Nigeria: 188 MW Aba Integrated Gas-to-Power Project gets $50m boost from Afreximbank


Last week during the second Intra-African Trade Fair in Durban, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a $50m term loan facility with Geometric Power Limited for its Aba Integrated Power Project in Nigeria.

The facility will notably help finance the initial capital required to acquire rights to the Aba Ring Fenced Area within which electricity from the power plant will be distributed and sold. It will also support the completion of remaining works, and the commissioning and commencement of operations of the project.

A Unique and Fully Integrated Gas-to-Power Project

The Aba IPP has been in the making for quite some time and will be Nigeria’s first integrated and independent power utility. The project includes a 141 MW gas-fired power plant (licensed for 188 MW), a 27km gas pipeline, and a distribution utility selling power within a ring-fenced distribution network. The project is structured as an embedded electricity facility designed to generate and distribute its own electricity.

Electricity will be generated by Geometric Power Aba Limited (GPAL), the entity that owns and operates the power station, but will be distributed by Aba Power Limited Electric (APLE). The former has a power generation license while the latter benefits from an electric distribution license.

Gas feedstock will be supplied by the Shell Petroleum Development Co. (SPDC) joint-venture, with whom a gas supply and aggregation agreement (GSAA) was executed in late 2018. The agreement notably covers the supply of about 43 MMscfd of gas.

“Being one of the only 24hr reliable power supplier, Aba IPP will revive moribund industries, power the Enyimba Economic City as well as markets such as the famous Ariaria International Market,” declared Geometric Power Chairman & CEO Prof. Bart Nnaji, who previously served as Nigeria’s Power Minister in 2011 and 2012.

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