By Ebuka Onyekwelu, PhD
The Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC) is set to hold its maiden electricity market investment roundtable. The roundtable, expected to attract key stakeholders and investors in the power sector, will be held on Thursday, 12th November, at the International Convention Centre in Awka, Anambra State capital, and will be chaired by Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, while the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, will deliver the keynote address.
According to the Chairman of ASERC, Professor Frank Okafor, the roundtable is in line with the Governor’s mandate to the Commission to “go and get power.” A few months ago, the Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, constituted the ASERC, manned by astute and experienced power professionals, to coordinate his administration’s vision and agenda on stable power supply in Anambra State.
More specifically, Governor Soludo, in his manifesto, pledged to “work with the Electricity Regulatory Commission and private sector investors to provide electricity generation through a combination of captive, embedded, and off-grid generation for the use of businesses in Anambra State.” The Governor also emphasized that under his watch, the Anambra State Government will “encourage private investors to explore renewable energy sources…invest in gas infrastructure to provide power for the State.”
In view of the broad vision of the government on power under this administration, “the roundtable is actually linked to the governor’s agenda,” Professor Okafor assured. Speaking on the roundtable, Professor Okafor noted that “What we intend to achieve principally is to streamline investment opportunities. We have done a few things to identify areas where viable investments can be made in Anambra. We have identified some clusters of load presence and load off-take that, if somebody generates power, he can sell… we have also created some models,” the ASERC Chairman said.
With the efforts made so far by the ASERC, there is clarity on viable areas of investment in the power sector in Anambra State. Consequently, Professor Okafor observed that “investment in the sector is not a gamble…some little bit of feasibility has been done. We don’t want people to start afresh,” Professor Frank Okafor concluded, pointing to the evidence-based investment opportunities in the Anambra State power sector.
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