KEDCO Building 100MW ‘Safe Grid’ to Protect Consumers From Grid Collapses

By Mustapha Salisu

The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has announced a partnership and initial investment of around $100 million to develop a 100MW “Safe Grid” for Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States, aimed to provide 24-hour power supply to key industries, commercial hubs, and critical government infrastructure, eliminating reliance on the national grid

This development was announced in a press statement issued to newsmen by KEDCO’s Head of Corporate Communications, Sani Bala Sani on Tuesday.

According to  Sani, due to lingering effects of challenges the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is currently facing in supplying energy to its franchise area, KEDCO is still receiving less than half of its allocation from the grid, which has caused great disruptions to their customers, institutions, and businesses while challenging their company’s financial performance.

The statement further elucidated that the ‘Safe Grid’ will be powered by embedded electricity generation in KEDCO’s network to ensure energy security within the network and eliminate the risks associated with absolute dependence on the grid such as unreliability and total blackouts, enabling key industries and socio-economic activities to thrive in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States while safeguarding jobs and competitiveness in their network.

The statement further read “this project will build the first 20MW power plant (of the 100MW) with Utilita under an Emergency Project valued at $20 million that will be operational by the end of the year to begin supply for the “Safe Grid”.

“The Generation units are already available and KEDCO is accelerating project development ahead of installation and commissioning in the Tamburawa area. KEDCO will also purchase electricity for the “Safe Grid” from the 10MW Haske Solar Power Plant (built by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and from the 16MW combined capacities from Tiga and Challawa Hydroelectric power projects built by the Kano State Government, bringing the total initial supply in the ‘Safe Grid’ to 46MW.”

“Furthermore, KEDCO is discussing with the Federal Ministry of Power to take over and complete the 10MW Katsina Wind Farm project and supply it into the ‘Safe Grid’. A further 54MW will be supplied through additional power plant projects using Gas and Solar. A new parallel distribution grid architecture is being built to take this ‘Safe Grid’ to all key locations and supply areas in the Franchise Area (Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa) starting from Kano State. ‘Safe Grid’ is already connecting the Dawanau International Grain Market through a dedicated 40km line (90% completed), conceived and executed by KEDCO and its core investor – Future Energies Africa (FEA).”

“KEDCO is engaging and partnering with the State Governments to determine the “Safe Grid” supply locations that will ensure the most economic value for its citizens, focusing on enhancing and securing jobs in industries, agro-processing, and commercial hubs, and safeguarding supply to critical Government Infrastructure. The Administration of their Excellencies – Abba Kabir Yusuf, Dikko Radda, and Umar Namadi (and their respective State Assemblies) have been great supporters of the ongoing turnaround programme in KEDCO. We plan to continue partnering with the State Governments to provide an enabling environment and to accelerate laws for the first Joint Electricity Regulation structure in the country across the 3 States. This will enable KEDCO to power the “Safe Grid” for the benefit of the 3 States from any of the power plants being built in the embedded network.”

“The “Safe Grid” will complement the ongoing “Utility 2.0” project earlier announced and being embarked on with 31 key developers to build 60MW of mini-grids. Developer partners in Uility 2.0 include Bagaja, Elektron, Paras, Grid Crux, Strom, Prado, Axxela, Bayshore, and Husk (amongst others).”

“Interestingly, as Bagaja has already commenced building projects in Charanci (Katsina) and Kafin Hausa (Jigawa) KEDCO is encouraging “Utility 2.0” developers to accelerate the pace of their projects in light of the lingering supply constraints in our network.”

“To foster reliability and affordability, KEDCO currently has the most competitive industrial Band A rates in the country with its partnership with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) branches in our States and still intends to maintain competitive rates with ‘Safe Grid’ through competitive bilateral grid contracts for the benefit our valued customers.”

“KEDCO is excited to be the first DisCo to offer 24-hour supply through the ‘Safe Grid’ initiative and ascribes to the visions of our State Governors in making our franchise area attractive for industrial and agro-processing businesses to provide the jobs needed to improve the economies of the region, in which stable power is crucial.”

“Our vision is to enable re-industrialization and socio-economic empowerment of our franchise area through safe, stable, and cost-competitive electricity supply, keenly focused on our customers’ satisfaction. “

“Thus, we encourage all Electricity Supply (and Gas Supply Companies) working in our network to partner with us in providing more affordable electricity rather than operating in isolation leading to higher costs for consumers.”

“We remain committed to improving electricity supply and associated services. To achieve this, we urge strong collaboration with all stakeholders to achieve this goal of providing electricity for all” the statement disclosed.