Lagos to generate 3,000mw of electricity in 7yrs

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said the State plans 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 seven years.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Lagos House in Ikeja, during the presentation of report by the Embedded Power Technical Committee, he said the planned 350MW of this incremental power will be delivered by the first quarter of 2018.

He added that an additional 850MW will be delivered by quarter four of 2018, and the balance of 1,800MW not later than quarter three of 2022.

“On my resumption of office as Governor of Lagos State, one of the many firm resolves I made was to tackle the structural and administrative issues slowing down our State from realising its full economic potentials.

You will agree with me that the problems plaguing the entire power sector value chain in Nigeria has had very negative impact on productivity, sustainable growth and development of the nation.

“As a result, the State plans 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 seven years,” he said.

Governor Ambode said while the Federal Government continues in its efforts to resolve the power crisis, it has become clear that the problems in the Energy Sector can no longer be left to the Federal Government alone to solve.

He added that sustainable solution going forward is one that pools together the commitment and resources of all stakeholders in the power value chain.

“In this regard, and in fulfilment of my election promise to create an enabling environment for people and businesses to thrive in Lagos State, our government initiated the Light Up Lagos programme as a platform to drive sustainable intervention in the following areas: “Street lighting, which is aimed at improving illumination, aesthetics, night economy and security in the state.

This is being relentlessly pursued, with over 47,000 poles of street lights under concession for effective management and optimum performance.”

He said rural electrification was embarked upon to improve grid and off grid power to communities. In this regard, he added, that about 67 communities in the Ibeju Lekki axis were connected to the grid in March 2016 after about six years off grid.

The governor noted that 32 other communities in Badagry which had not had access to electricity for over 16 years would be connected to the grid within the next 21 days.

“Our embedded power plan is to work with stakeholders towards achieving a 24-hour power for Lagos.

The overall objective of our power intervention programme is to ensure energy security for Lagos State, by implementing the distribution of the embedded power off-grid, within Lagos State through the network of Eko and Ikeja distribution companies,” he said.

He said his government would support the distribution companies in upgrading their distribution infrastructure and installation of smart prepaid meters in the areas where embedded power is deployed.

He added that areas of collaboration will include support for collection, appropriate legislation and enforcement of power theft laws. Also, he reiterated that the state would actively collaborate with operators of oil blocks in the Lagos area to accelerate the extraction of gas feedstocks for power generation.