Geometric power, commissioned on Monday is not supplying its own electricity to Aba consumers right now, officials said last night.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by his deputy, Kassim Shettima, officially commissioned the Geometric Power plant on Monday, 26 February 2024.
Netizens continue to post queries to Aba residents on the status of power supply in the City and environs.
The company said electricity generated from Geometric power plant will reach Aba consumers from this weekend that begins tomorrow, 1st March 2024.
Geometric has hitherto been buying electricity from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to supply to Aba consumers.
This arrangement severely impacts businesses and homes as NDPHC supplies about 25MW of power for redistribution to Aba consumers. The Aba industrial hub requires almost 100MW, experts said.
Geometric began the journey to steady supply last Sunday, 25 February 2024, when it switched on one of its three turbines.
This lone turbine, one of three, will supply 47MW of power to Aba consumers. Although inadequate, it is almost double what Aba consumers hitherto received from NDPHC through the national grid.
Officials explained that there is usually a two-week wait from switch on before allowing power to flow to consumers.
However, Company Chairman, Prof. Bart Nnaji, reportedly ordered engineers to crash the schedule from two weeks to one week.
He told the engineers to eliminate “non-critical technical procedures’ ” in order to fast track the process.
“He (Prof Nnaji) asked us to provide power to the people without fail this weekend,” the official said.
Officials from the National Control Centre (NCC), Oshogbo are already in Aba to inspect the facility. This is another technical requirement.
Geometric is an integrated generation, transmission and distribution company licensed to supply electricity to nine LGAs in Abia State.
Power experts explained that powering up a second turbine “will increase power supply to 94MW,
“This will meet Aba energy requirements for now and stabilise power supply to the area.”
The prospect of a steady power supply in a Nigerian setting is already creating its own set of excitement. Manufacturers are considering relocating their plants to Aba while government considers adopting the Nnaji model.
Lagos-based Neimeth Pharmaceuticals PLC announced that it will relocate its manufacturing plant to Aba if electricity supply improves substantially.
Poor power supply accounts for a substantial percentage of high production costs in Nigeria.
Additionally, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu, said the Federal Government is closely monitoring the performance of the Geometric Power group. The government is keen to consider Geometric as a business model for sustainable development of the Nigerian power sector, he said at Monday’s commissioning ceremony.
Although he did not further clarify this, the model enables industry players to establish power plant as turn-key projects. Investors are assigned particular areas and allowed to both generate and distribute power to the area.
The statement from the company clarifies the confusion over whether power from the company is flowing to consumers.
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Is Geometric supplying electricity to Aba right now?
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