(ABUJA, NIGERIA): Nigeria and Japan have agreed to a $800million credit facility for the Jebba Power Plant which will see the aging power plant get a facelift. The facelift would enable it add 578.4 megawatts(MW) of power generation capacity to Jebba Hydro Power Plant.
The plant’s turbines, with a generation capacity of 96.4MW, was rehabilitated by Japan after a fire outbreak recently and was commissioned to increase its available generation capacity to 482MW.
Deputy Head of Mission at Japan’s Embassy, Mr. Masaya Otsuka, who made the disclosure in Jebba when Japan handed over to Nigeria at Jebba the overhauled unit of the six generating turbines it rehabilitated for the country at the plant, said the credit line would be used to rehabilitate and extend the lifespan of four extra units of the plant.
The loan, he said, was part of Japan’s support for Nigeria’s power sector, noting that it was under the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD, framework, and would include 1.4 per cent concessionary rate for 40 years. Otsuka noted that if approved under a government-to-government agreement, the loan would be used to refurbish the four generating turbines which had not undergone any form of mandatory overhaul since they were commissioned in 1983.
At present, the Jebba plant is operated by Mainstream Energy Solutions under a concession framework in the federal government’s power sector privatisation.
