Distributed Power Business has said that United Kingdom distributed power provider, Clarke Energy is supplying GE’s new diesel engines to Flour Mills of Nigeria Plcfor power generation to solve the country’s energy challenges and encourage growth in the emerging industrial sector.
The project represents the first sale of GE’s new 616 diesel engine globally, which will deliver higher fuel efficiency and extended service intervals than many other diesel engines today. The announcement was made by Clarke Energy at this year’s East African Power Industry Convention in Nairobi, Kenya recently .
“Chief executive officer, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Plc Mr.Paul Gbededo, who reacted on the project in Lagos over the weekend said, his company has been working with Clark Energy since 2005 ,adding that he is confident that the company will be capable to install and maintain the plant .
‘’As Nigeria continues to grow its industrial might in the global economy, we have opted to invest in GE’s new 616 diesel engines to deliver higher fuel efficiency at our sites in Lagos and Kano. We have been working with Clarke Energy since 2005, and we are confident in its ability to support us in the engineering installation and maintenance of the units,” he noted.
According to him Flour Mills project will include five of GE’s 616 units, delivering up to 12.5 megawatts (MW) of electrical power enough to power 33,000 Nigerian homes. Two of the units will be used at the Kano facility in northern Nigeria, where natural gas access is limited and older, less-efficient diesel units have been used in order to maintain power for production.
He added that the new GE engines will deliver 5 megawatts of electrical power, with an expected capital payback in less than 12 months on diesel fuel cost savings alone.
He explained that the other three GE engines will be at Flour Mills’ facility in Apapa, Lagos, the same city in which Clarke Energy opened its first sub-Saharan Africa site nearly a decade ago. This site already features 11 of GE’s J620 gas engines, and the diesel units will provide backup power generation capacity in the event of maintenance on the site’s existing power generation equipment or in the event of a gas supply failure.
Source : Independent