A Moroccan company Themis has signed a partnership agreement with Nigeria’s Kingline Development to install a US $600 m gas-fired power plant in the state of Ondo in Nigeria.
Tas Anvaripour, CEO of Neo Themis, confirmed the reports and said that the plant is set to become one of the world’s lowest cost natural gas-fired power plants. The project will involve constructing a 550MW combined cycle powerhouse, a substation, a desalination facility and related infrastructure at the Ondo State International Industrial Park in Omotoso, 170 km northeast of Lagos.
Ondo gas-fired power plant
The gas-fired power plant project is expected to be commissioned by 2020 and to become fully operational in 2022. The plant will source the required gas from the nearby gas fields in the Ondo onshore/offshore basin. State-run Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) will buy electricity from the Ondo plant for a period of 20 years on a take-or-pay basis.
CEO Tas commented on the commitment ready to be offered by Kingline Limited saying “Kingline offers compelling advantages for the Federal Government of Nigeria given its extremely competitive pricing, availability of peripheral gas and transmission infrastructure, timing to operation, and technical flexibility.”
On his part, Sean Kim, CEO of Kingline said “We are excited to be working with Themis, who bring critical expertise and extensive power development experience, as well as proven access to financial markets. The project has strong technical and financial support and will deliver a power solution for Nigeria, cost-competitive within any international market.”
Themis has been responsible for developing and financing some of Africa’s most significant infrastructure and power projects over the last decade. The company is actively developing circa 400 MW across the African continent, including the 44MW Singrobo hydro project in Côte d’Ivoire, and is targeting the development of more than 1 gigawatt of gas-fired and renewable power generation projects in the medium term.
“Despite increased competition, the number of projects reaching closing is still largely below the needs of the continent, and this new venture of the Africa Power Investment Platform for the development of energy projects in Africa, is well positioned to fill the gap,” said Tas Anvaripour.
Nigeria currently has 4,000 MW of operational capacity, compared to 13,400 MW of installed capacity and 15,000 MW of demand.
