1Scope Delivered
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| Solar PV array | 30 MWp, with all electrical and civil works — cabling, mounting structures, combiner boxes and water cleaning network |
| Inverters | Solar inverters |
| Battery energy storage | 22 MW / 22 MWh BESS |
| Medium-voltage connection | 800 m of 33 kV underground line connection |
| High-voltage connection | HV 330 kV busbar |
| Substation works | Substation, switchgears, transformers and complete connection to 330 kV |
| Control | Control and low-voltage network |
| Supervisory system | SCADA, complete control and monitoring |
| Operations | Operation and maintenance for 15 years |
2Why the Storage Component Matters
A solar array alone produces power only when the sun is on it, and delivers that power to the grid at the moment of generation regardless of whether the grid needs it then. Pairing 30 MWp of generation with a 22 MW / 22 MWh battery converts an intermittent resource into a dispatchable one — power can be held and released when the network calls for it. On a Nigerian transmission system where available capacity, not installed capacity, is the binding constraint, that distinction determines whether new generation is useful.
3Execution Record
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Proposal submitted | 8 January 2020 |
| Contract awarded | 3 March 2020 |
| Entered commercial use | 13 October 2021 |
| Certificate issued | 3 November 2021 |
| Operation and maintenance term | 15 years from commissioning |
The Agency’s certificate records that the farm is monitored and controlled remotely through Advanced Metering Infrastructure and a SCADA system, with live monitoring accessible continuously via security cameras; that execution followed the schedule submitted at the outset; and that the system is fully operational.
4The Economic Weight of This Contract
The macroeconomic backdrop
The World Bank has estimated Nigeria’s annual economic losses from unreliable power at 5 to 7 per cent of GDP — in the order of US$25 billion a year. The constraint is not primarily installed capacity: Nigeria holds roughly 13 GW of installed generation but average available capacity has run closer to 4.5 GW, held down by ageing units, maintenance backlogs and liquidity problems. Generation that is both new and reliably dispatchable therefore addresses the binding problem rather than adding to a number that already overstates what the system delivers.
A fifteen-year revenue annuity, not a construction payment
This is the commercially distinctive feature of the contract and the one most relevant to an investor. The company did not build the plant and demobilise; it committed to operating and maintaining it for fifteen years from commissioning, including provision of all projected spare parts. That converts a single capital receipt into a contracted service position running to approximately 2036. For a contractor, the difference between an EPC business and an EPC-plus-services business is the difference between revenue that must be replaced every cycle and revenue that recurs — and it is the principal reason infrastructure services companies trade on different multiples from pure construction firms.
Operations require a permanent in-country capability
A fifteen-year O&M term on a hybrid plant cannot be serviced remotely. It requires a standing Nigerian team competent in PV maintenance, inverter servicing, battery management, HV switchgear and SCADA operation. That is a durable local establishment rather than a project-duration mobilisation, and it lowers the marginal cost of bidding subsequent Nigerian work.
Skills in a category Nigeria has little of
Nigeria has substantial experience in thermal generation and in distribution construction. Utility-scale solar with battery storage is a different technical discipline, and the pool of engineers and technicians who have operated grid-connected BESS at transmission voltage is correspondingly small. Personnel trained through a fifteen-year operations programme represent capability that did not previously exist in the domestic market.
Concentration in Kogi State
This contract sits alongside the company’s ₦15.3 billion Okene distribution programme in the same state, executed under a separate REA award. Generation at a transmission node and distribution network downstream of it are complementary investments, and delivering both gives the company an operating footprint in Kogi spanning the value chain from grid injection to the customer meter.
Displacement economics
Nigerian commercial and industrial users respond to unreliable supply by running diesel and petrol generators — a cost borne continuously, in hard currency for fuel, with maintenance and emissions attached. Every megawatt-hour delivered reliably from a grid-connected hybrid plant displaces self-generation that is more expensive per unit and worse for local air quality. The economic return on reliability accrues to the users, not only to the generator.
5Nigerian Programme Context
This project is one of three contracts executed by International Consolidated Contractors Offshore SAL Ltd for the Rural Electrification Agency under the Nigeria Electrification Project:
| Project | Contract Reference | Value (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| Kabba 30 MWp hybrid solar farm, Kogi | REA-NEP/C/GO/RFP/47/25E — Commissioned | 41,144,857.96 |
| Maraban Jos 35 MWp hybrid solar farm, Kaduna | REA-NEP/C/GO/RFP/98/15B — October 2021 | 46,219,403.17 |
| Solar home and distributed PV systems | REA-NEP/SHSDSS/2023/01 — January 2022 | 5,839,115.00 |
| Total | Handed over March 2026 | 93,203,376.13 |
Note: the source table’s columns were misaligned; dates above were assigned by column position — please verify the milestone dates (Maraban Jos, solar home systems and the March 2026 handover) against the original certificates before publication.
These sit alongside four medium- and low-voltage distribution contracts executed for the same Agency in Anambra, Cross River, Borno and Kogi States, together valued at ₦72,963,068,418.88. Supporting documentation — the Notification of Award dated 3 March 2020 and the Rural Electrification Agency certificate dated 3 November 2021, both under contract reference REA-NEP/C/GO/RFP/47/25E — is available on request.
Project Enquiries
International Consolidated Contractors Offshore SAL Ltd · 04 Oguda Close, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria
Email: info@i-cc.co · Website: www.i-cc.co · Tel: +961 21 614100
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