BusinessDay 06 Mar 2018

Monday 05 March 2018
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
21
ANDREAS PISTAUER
Head of Siemens operations in sub-Saharan-Africa for Power and Gas
ement in all power projects - Siemens boss
government giving the right incentive to
developers to take on the opportunity
provided by Siemens, we are ready to go.
Our transmission is the major
issue. What advice would you
give to government on that?
What do you mean by developers;
do you mean private investors?
You know the power sector has actually
been privatized and we want to
encourage that. We should continue
in that line. It will still be for private
developers to develop, and Siemens
will provide all the necessary support to
do that; the right technology including
collaborating on financing while the
government should ensure that there
is a cost reflective tariff and necessary
guaranties put in place.
Cost reflective tariff has been an
issue limiting investors and yet you
are still putting in money into the
sector. Why?
I have full confidence for two reasons.
Number one, Nigeria needs minimum
of 30,000 megawatts as capacity; this is
what it really requires. So the demand
for power is so huge that it’s not a question
of 100 megawatts, 450 megawatts
or a thousand megawatts capacity. Any
capacity that comes as addition would
help. We would like to give you an example
of Egypt; the government realised
they ran into a shortage in the medium
term on their capacity. They also realised
the few turbines are not running
efficiently and they are old technology.
So, the Egyptian government decided it
wanted to make a change in policy plan.
Siemens agreed with the government
that within three years’ time we would
provide it with most efficient power
generating capacity worldwide and in
the past three years we have delivered
14, 000 megawatts capacities in three
different power plants. That is the largest
power plant project ever done within a
single agreement. A similar thing can be
done in Nigeria but requires both sides
working together closely.
The second reason is, does it make
sense that today people who needed
electricity are spending a lot for daily
power needs. This is a problem for every
production facilities, for every industry
that wants to produce in Nigeria.
I think the power generation is
relatively easy to solve. The transmission
sector; once the power
generation is taken care of, the
transmission sector also needs investment.
An independent system
operator is better in place than it
being owned by the government.
But if access to the grid is allowed
not only for a particular generation
company, and distribution
companies are allowed to have their
own generation then, the burden of
the overall transmission line system
would be reduced. But, there could
be a win-win situation if distribution
companies would also be allowed to
have their generation capacity, then
they can generate their own power
needs and not necessarily everything
has to go to the national grid. So this
does really increase the reliability of
electricity supply.
For example, here in Lagos, if different
distribution companies could
generate their own electricity, then
there is an integrated model; be it industrial
facilities or industrial cluster
generating electricity, they can also
supply other industries.
This is where we have to commend
what is going on in Lagos State.
Lagos State is working on establishing
3000 megawatts and they are also
planning to have their own distribution
network eventually. So, it means
if we can have this repeated in some
of the big states, then it means whatever
we then have in the national poll
can be used in other places.
So for the Lagos embedded
power project, we are happy that
NERC has actually given them notice
of no objection, that is very good and
Siemens is going to work to support
the state government in achieving
this objective as fast as possible.
In what way is Siemens going to
be involved in that project?
Siemens will be involved in terms
of providing the right technology on
a fast track bases, and even supporting
it with financing.
Do you think that 3000 megawatts
is visible within the period
of seven years for a state like
Lagos?
It’s visible. I just mentioned it earlier
what we did in Egypt; in less than
two years we have done about 5000
megawatts. We did in 18 months
about 4000 megawatts. It’s the most
efficient technology.
We are also in discussion with
the state government to actually
ensure it has whatever support or
collaboration needed to make it
happen. Like I said, there cannot be
industrialisation without electricity.
If this can happen in Lagos State, other
states will emulate it and perhaps
it can also provide the stimulus for
the Federal Government to also fast
track whatever they are doing now.
Again, in Siemens we are ready for it.
We have developed special technology
particular for Africa. Now we
can make available 40 megawatts in
40 days, also an excellent financing
model in order to relief the burden
for the end customers. So it is a fantastic
thing and you shouldn’t forget,
one unit of 40 megawatts provides
electricity for more than 2million
people.
Some of your competitors
are doing so much also in
terms of capacity development
in Nigeria, even building of vocational
centres for technicians.
What expertly is Siemens doing
to counter that?
Ours is a slightly different philosophy.
We talk may be less but do
more. So, this is our philosophy:
we don’t like to make statements
that are not followed by actions, it
is not our style. Siemens has done
a lot in terms of vocational training;
we can elaborate a little bit on the
academy that is being put in place. I
don’t know if you are aware that we
are in collaboration with the Lagos
State Government on this. We have
the ‘Energy Academy’ in Lagos State
where Siemens provides certification
for technicians that are trained in
different areas of electricity and electrical
engineering. So, we are already
doing that, we are also in discussion
with some states government
already so that we can actually set
up vocational center, helping to set
up technology centers in such a way
that this can also help to promote
establishment of employments in
different areas.
but was the first to be completed on
time and on budget. So the plant is
running just as you said but there
may be other external issues just
like insufficient gas supply affecting
it. It is one of the best power plants
in the country today. You can actually
check that out with Niger Delta
Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
What are your challenges within
the context of your operations in
Nigeria?
The challenges are less technical
challenges because we provide
a robust technology. One of the
challenges is how projects become
bankable, and also Siemens here
supports many projects including
Azura project and other projects in
other countries.
What is your own aspiration for
a country like Nigeria which has
huge power potentials yet struggling
to fix its power challenge?
I am confident that political decision
makers would do the right things.
They have the wisdom and the
vision to know exactly that providing
electricity to the people is the
fundamental that would enable
economic growth and prosperity in
the country.
Siemens installed Afam five
which was commissioned several
years ago. What is the state
of that Afam five power plant?
How will you access the performance
of Geregu Power plant
within the contest of the national
power generation plan?
I’m happy you touched on Geregu
power plant. If you go and check the
records, out of the NIPP projects that
was awarded during former president
Olusegun Obasanjo regime;
Geregu was the last to be awarded
Afam five is again one of the most
reliable technologies we have supplied.
But, if you have a car and
you don’t fuel it, don’t put oil in it;
even the best car without oil, will
stop operating and this is what has
happened with Afam five. But it can
be easily fixed. We did a calculation
that indicates that the plant can still
provide additional 200 megawatts of
power in less than twelve months.