Lagos- A German power plants transmission and distribution expert, Mr Udo Wolter, on Wednesday called for more Federal Government support for the Independent Power Producers(IPPs) in the country.
Wolter, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of a one-day seminar on “Financing Renewable Energy’’ in Lagos, said that more support for the IPPs would ensure steady power supply in the country.
The Head of Power Plants transmission and distribution in GAUFF Power International, also said that it was imperative for the Federal Government to address the nation’s current challenge in foreign exchange.
“Since our arrival in Nigeria, there has been a lot of power-cuts. And from our analysis, Nigeria has a huge resource of primary energy and gas.
“We have found out how much more support the Nigerian IPPs really and urgently needed from the government for the nation’s energy sector to be adequately developed.
“There is a huge challenge in the nation’s foreign exchange policy, and this really affecting the importation of products and the efficiency of IPPs projects in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Government, therefore, has to begin to find solutions that would allow for loan agreements in hard currency in the future,’’ he said.
Wolter, who said that his company was currently working in Nigeria, Botswana, Mozambique, and Angola, expressed confidence in the expertise of Nigeria’s IPPs.
He also said that Nigeria’s use of environmentally-friendly technologies would provide a lot of development opportunities for projects in her power sector.
The energy development expert said that his organisation was prepared to offer technical concept to Nigeria.
“We can offer the projects management cheap financing solutions.
“We are currently working directly with some local Nigerian partners in working toward the development of Nigeria’s energy sector,’’ he added.