Lagos to have uninterrupted power supply - Ambode

Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Am­bode has revealed plans by the Lagos State Gov­ernment to attain 24-hour pow­er supply by generating 3,000mw of electricity by 2022, even as he said the Federal Government alone cannot bear the task of energy security.

He disclosed this in Lagos after receiving the report of his administration's Embedded Power Tech­nical Committee, comprising representatives from the pub­lic and private sectors, the governor said the sustainable solution to the power crisis would be to pull commitment and resources of all stakeholders in the power value chain.

According to him, the target is to generate up to 3,000mw of power through accelerated de­ployment of various embedded power plants in strategic loca­tions in the state within three to five years.

Out of this, 350mw would be delivered by Q1 2018, an ad­ditional 850mw by Q4 2018, and the balance of 1,800mw not later than Q3 2022.

Also, the state government will support the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to be signed between the distribution compa­nies and the embedded power providers to enhance bankabili­ty of the projects.

Likewise, the embedded power will be distributed off-grid within Lagos through the network of Eko and Ikeja Discos, which the state government will support in upgrading their distribution infra­structure and installation of smart prepaid meters in areas where em­bedded power is deployed.

Ambode explained that the major issue with the country’s power situation has always been transmission, adding that the ini­tiative is designed to permanent­ly resolve power crisis in the state, and by extension, the entire coun­try.

“The reason we embarked on this initiative is that we believe strongly that if the power problem is solved in Lagos, it is technically solved in the whole of the coun­try, and because Lagos has more or less tested a solution that works, we can scale this up and also ad­dress it on a national scale,” Am­bode said.

“The problem of power in Ni­geria is the problem of transmis­sion and that is the truth. Yes, we have generating and distributing companies and they say power is in the hands of the private sector, but we know technically that that is not totally true.

“We also know that transmis­sion is 100 percent owned by gov­ernment, but we have tested here in Lagos and we have been able to provide 48 kilowatts of pow­er without transmitting it, which means that we generate and then distribute.

“So, if that works for 48 kilo­watts, can we put Lagos into clus­ters and actually use embedded power initiative to drive the busi­ness of Lagos? That is what this in­itiative is all about.

“I want to thank all stake­holders for submitting their busi­ness templates into what govern­ment sees as the right step to take, so that we can join hands to say in the next two to five years that we can actually power Lagos and then grow our GDP.”

Other areas of collaboration, the governor said, would include support for collection, appropri­ate legislation and enforcement of power theft laws