Sahara Power Group, owners of Egbin power plant and First Independent Power Limited, has said the generation company will operate at full capacity of 1320 megawatts (Mw) by end of this month, which will be delivered to the national grid.
The Group Managing Director of Sahara Power Group, Mr. Kola Adesina, stated this on the sideline of the induction of 39 young engineers, the company recruited that will undergo a 26-week intensive training across the power industry value chain at the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) in Lagos.
“We are working hard to ensure that we get the 1320 Megawatts (MW) in place this February. By the end of this month, Egbin will be able to deploy to Nigerians the 1320Mw.
Currently we can do 880Mw but the limitation evacuation is what is limiting it to 543Mw but as a company, I assure you the availability from Egbin will be 1320Mw by the end of February.
However, we have two constraints to delivering the 1320Mw to customers. The constraints are gas supply and evacuation and transmission of the power. If the two constraints are there, it may be difficult to deliver the 1320Mw.
The young engineers will undergo the Graduate Engineering Programme (GEP) at the NAPTIN.
The Director of Training, NAPTIN, Francis Elughi, said: “The training has four modules. The field work or hands-on-training, will take 16 weeks while classroom work will start with refresher training. The refresher training, which will last for two weeks, is to enable the inductees have basic knowledge of the power sector as they graduated from different engineering backgrounds including electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, among others. This will focus on overview of power system, after which the training will move to knowing the various components of steel and gas turbines. The second module will focus on overview of power system network to basic rotation and metering.”
On the training, Adesina said: “The training is essentially to reskill, up-skill, recruit. It is a process to ensure and guarantee regular supply of electricity. The human capital is the most important to us as an organisation in order to offer highest customer satisfaction.
“The inductees would have the opportunity of learning from some of the continent’s best engineering professionals at Egbin Power and First Independent Power Limited. “We are setting the tone for a future where our people will become power experts with global influence, providing smart solutions to the power needs in Africa and beyond. We are delighted to have this batch of engineers on board. Sahara Power’s vision of lighting up Africa will be driven by the best possible human capital. Most of the technical training sessions will be held at Egbin Power Plc and First Independent Power Limited.
“Sahara Power Group had since 2014 recruited over 130 graduate engineers in line with its commitment to youth empowerment and local capacity development in the power sector,” Adesina added.
The NAPTIN’s acting Director-General, Mr. Ahmed Bolaji Nagode, said the power sector needed consistent training activities to address the dearth of human capital in the sector. Nagode said it was imperative for the sector to bridge the knowledge gap by investing in its people through sustained collaboration between the public and private sector.
“A robust human capital is required to transform the power sector to achieve higher efficiency, reliability and productivity. As always, NAPTIN is delighted to continue its collaboration with Sahara Power Group on this project.
“We have through the Sahara Power group graduates engineering programme, produced excellent engineers that are already bringing innovative solutions to processes in the sector. I congratulate the successful inductees, and I am confident that the future is bright for all of you and for the entire power sector,” he said. (The Nation)
