NIGER STATE, THE ELECTRIC POWER STATE OF NIGERIA:
FOUR of Nigeria's major hydroelectric power stations are located in Niger State.
Niger State is a state in Central Nigeria and the largest state in the country. The state is named after the River Niger.
FOUR of Nigeria's major hydroelectric power stations are located in Niger State.
There are CURRENLY three major operational HydroElectric Power dams in Niger State are generating eletricity on-grid in Nigeria.
The Kainji Dam built in 1968, Jebba Dam built in 1985 and Shiroro Dam built in 1990.
A fourth dam is being built at Zungeru, also in Niger State.
These are all hydroelectric dams and generate a potential combined power output of 1,900 megawatts.
The focus of this write up is on the 700MW Zungeru HydroElectric Dam Power (Under Construction)
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700MW ZUNGERU HYDROELECTRIC DAM POWER (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
According to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola in June 2016, he confirmed that construction works has resumed at the site of the 700 megawatts (MW) Zungeru power plant in Niger State, after the federal government facilitated an out of court settlement by parties involved in the dispute.
The Zungeru hydrodam power plant project has been held up in court for several years. The project is now 3 years behind targeted completion date. Buhari led FG has resolved the dispute.
All parties are out of court and over 800 construction workers are back on site.
Zungeru power plant construction was awarded to Sinohydro consortium for a 700 MW hydropower station, a river dam, a 2400m RCC roller concrete gravity dam and a clay core rockfill dam, a power house.
The completion of the Nigeria's US$1.3 billion 700-MW Zungeru hydroelectric project has been delayed due to challenges....
Legal challenges from vested interests slowed work down at the 700-MW Zungeru hydroelectric project in Nigeria that first begun in 2012. The legal challenge is OVER!
Another issues was the delay due to ecological problems facing communities brought on by the construction and activities related to hydroelectric power projects. HYPPADEC was established to tackle that!
The communities affected by the project include 88 wards in Shiroro, Rafi and Wushishi local government areas of Niger State.
The Zungeru hydropower project will provide power generation, flood protection and water for irrigation. The project includes a roller-concrete compacted dam (90 meters in height and 1,090 meters in length), an intake tower and diversion tunnel, underground powerhouse, power transmission line and access road.
Once completed, Zungeru will be the largest HYDRODAM power station in Nigeria, according to developers. Zungeru will generate enough hydroelectric power to provide reliable energy to more than 400,000 homes.
With its four 175 MW hydroelectric turbines, Zungeru is the largest power plant financing project in sub-Saharan Africa that uses the "concessional loans and preferential export buyer's credit" of the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim), according to the China National Engineering Electric Co. Ltd. (CNEEC)-Sinohydro consortium.
Concessional loans and preferential export buyer's credit are used as Chinese government official development aid to developing countries.
China Exim is the only bank designated by the Chinese government to implement this type of financing.
CNEEC-Sinohydro partnered with the government of Nigeria in 2012 to construct the 700-MW Zungeru hydroelectric project on the middle and upper reaches of the Kaduna River near Zungeru, Niger, Nigeria.
The project completion date was originally scheduled for 2017, but court actions preventing construction phases will push back the plant's commissioning date.
China Exim is supplying about 75% of funding, while the Nigerian government is contributing the remaining 25%, or about US$309 million.
Written up by Mayowa Michael Adeleye