The Federal Government has assured Nigerians of its readiness to generate 25,000 megawatts of electricity in the country as part of efforts to enhance power-related businesses and other economic activities in the country.
The Minister of Power, Mua’azu Sambo disclosed this in Katsina State when he inspected a lot of power transmission substation projects including the ongoing windmill project located at Lambar Rimi in Charanchi Local Government Area of the State.
Sambo who was accompanied by the Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Engineer Sule Abdulaziz, explained that a number of procurements have been made by the ministry under the Presidential power Initiative to restore electricity and enhance power-related businesses across the country.
The windmill project contract which was awarded in June 2009 was designed to generate 10 megawatts of electricity for Katsina State and was expected to be completed within 24 months.
It was however, gathered that the initial contractor moved to the site in 2010 after which the project engineer was kidnapped at the peak of the work in 2012 which signified the beginning of the delay in completing the project on time.
Out of the 37 wind turbines installed for the takeoff of the project, 31 have successfully been working with the remaining six of them vandalized which the ministry is working to fix ahead of the commissioning of the project.
Each of the turbines has the capacity to generate 275 kilowatts.
In the meantime, the newly appointed Minister of Power inspected three power transmission substation projects meant not only to serve as booster stations to the windmill project but also to boost electricity supply across the state.
They include 330 KV substation located at Fatima Shema Estate which is coming from Kano, construction of 33/11 KV Liyafa substation at Katsina- Kano Road as well as the 133/33 KV Kankia Transmission Substation.
