Lalong urges FG to complete Electricity laboratory

Plateau Governor Simon Lalong has charged the Federal Government to complete the National Electrical Equipment Testing Laboratory, Bassa in view of its relevance to effective power supply.

Lalong gave the charge on Thursday in Jos, in a keynote address at the third edition of the National Council on Power (NACOP) tagged “Completing Power Sector Reforms”, currently holding in Jos.

“The laboratory will ensure effective testing and certification of electrical assets and equipment before use, which will guide against the use of substandard components,” he said.

He said that the project, which was abandoned in 1990, should be completed and put to use to minimise incidences of disasters caused by electricity sparks.

The governor also appealed to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to use his office to quickly replace the 150MVA transformer, which was razed down by fire at the Jos transmission sub-station, last week.

He said that the transformer needed to be replaced to avoid the consequences which included total darkness to the four states – Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe and Benue – covered by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

Mr Wuyep Jaafaru, Commissioner, Ministry of Water Resources and Energy, who presented a paper on Plateau State Policy and Strategy on Renewable Energy, said that the policy represented government’s commitment to improving the lives of citizens.

Ja’afaru said that decentralised electrification technologies like embedded generation, extension of distribution grids, mini grids and stand alone systems, powered by renewable energies, would be used to supply electricity in the state.

He added that other sources like solar, wind, bio mass and small hydro, generally backed up by conventional generational sources that are already used, like the chemical storage, shall be used as transitory solutions to supply electricity reliably.