Zungeru hydropower to begin operations Q2 2023

The Federal Government would wrap up the concession of the $1.3 billion Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant by March of next year and start up operations by the second quarter of the same year.

This comes after the Bureau of Public Enterprise recently signaled the start of the bid process. On November 24, the agency ended the period for investors to submit bids.

The commissioning will take place in the second quarter of the same year after the concession procedure is completed in March, according to the PUNCH.

The 700MW plant’s concession has been planned for 2021. According to estimates, the Zungeru project in Niger State’s Zungeru will produce 2.64 billion kWh of electricity annually or around 10% of Nigeria’s total domestic energy requirements.

The facility is the largest of its kind in Nigeria and is being financed by a loan from China’s Exim Bank.

The federal government intends to lower the amount of government financing for the plant, so the private partner that it is now seeking will be responsible for repaying the loan.

The plant will be run by the successful bidder for 30 years before being turned over to the government. A final request for qualification for the project concession was made public by the BPE in October.

The strategy and work plan to expedite the concession of the facility was reportedly authorized by the National Council on Privatization in July, according to the BPE.

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The company also stated that it will issue the RFQ, evaluate the technical proposals, shortlist potential investors for the opening of the financial bids, and determine a date for the opening of the financial bids all in a short period of time after the RFQ was released.

The decision to concession the hydro facility follows a period of chronic undersupply of electricity to the 218 million people in the nation.

Despite having a current distribution capacity of approximately 12,000 MW, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has only been able to wheel roughly 4000 MW.

When finished, the 700 MW hydro facility will significantly increase Nigeria’s current power output of roughly 4000 MW.