Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has called for collaborative efforts in the power sector to ensure that generated power translates into electricity in homes of Nigerians.

The governor made the call today while commissioning Gas Turbine 15 which generates 115 Megawatts of electricity into the national grid at the Transcorp Power Plant, Ughelli, Delta State.

According to Senator Okowa, “I believe that there is hope around the corner but, there should be more collaboration for the power generated to get to our homes.”

“We need to look into that section where the power generated gets to the people, because, no matter the amount of power you generate and it does not get to the masses, there will be issues,” he added while assuring that the existing peace in the state would be consolidated as a continuous boost to investors' confidence.

Governor Okowa congratulated the Chairman of Transcorp Power Limited, Tony Elumelu, for the achievements recorded by the company.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had commended Governor Okowa for his commitment to peace in the Niger Delta, observing that such paid off with the successful operation of Transcorp in the area without any issues.

He also, observed that the increase in power generation was a clear sign that the privatisation of the power sector had started yielding benefits for Nigerians.

Mr Elumelu had thanked Governor Okowa “for making the environment very peaceful and good for investment; since we started our operations here, there has not been any security issue with the community.”

“Upon the successful acquisition and takeover of Ughelli Power Plc and its power generating plant by Transcorp Power Limited, the new owners resolved to achieve optimal plant recovery as quickly as possible and this led to an assessment of the plant, the outcome of which resulted in the replacement of the plant; the then existing Gas Turbine 15, which had a capacity of 100 MW but, was not functional, was part of the assets identified for outright replacement by Transcorp Power,” Mr Elumelu disclosed.

He added: “The new Gas Turbine 15 (115 MW) also comes with 33 per cent simple cycle efficiency and with the successful commissioning and synchronizing of the turbine to the national grid, it has increased the available capacity of our plant from 160 MW (at the time of takeover on November 1, 2013) to 620MW and our corporate goal is to increase our available capacity to 850 MW before the end of the year.”

The event witnessed a guided tour of the facilities.

•Photo shows Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (3rd right); Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fasola and the Chairman, Transcorp Power Ltd, Mr Tony Elumelu (left) during the Commissioning of Gas Turbine 15 the Transcorp Power Ltd in Ughelli in Ughelli North LGA.

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