The Nigerian federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese energy firm HTG-Pacific Energy for a US$3.7bn coal-to-power project
Pacific Energy chairman Adedeji Adeleke said that the MoU will represent the first step to building a power plant that will provide an additional 1,200MW electricity to the national grid.
Adeleke added that a greater part of the funds required to carry out the project will be sourced from foreign banks.
The Pacific Energy chairman noted, “For this particular project, almost all the fund will be borrowed from outside the country. The local banks have the capacity to fund, but there are certain issues they need to consider before making any commitment.”
Adeleke said that with the signing of the MoU, the nation will be able to expect additional power generated into the grid within the next 48 months.
“This MoU is the first step towards our proposed 1,200MW power plant to be built in the Enugu state, using the coal we are going to mine from the Ezima coal mine,” he said,
Adeleke further stated that with the signing of the MoU, the company will now move into the Ezima coal complex to commence exploitation of the abundant coal deposit within the area.
Adeleke revealed, “There is an estimated reserve and confirmed reserve, but we are going to do our own work to confirm the actual reserve to make sure that we have enough to power the 1,200MW plant within the next 50 years.
“This MoU now allows us to move in to start the exploration immediately. If everything goes well with the exploration, we are expecting to start generating power within the next 48 months.”
