‘Fuel flexibility, reliability makes Wärtsilä engines technology of choice’

Managing director, Wärtsilä, Nigeria, Mr Ade Audifferen is a member of the West Africa Power Industry Convention (WAPIC) advisory board and is billed to address this year’s convention slated for 18-19 November in Lagos. In this interview with the organisers of the event, he speaks on “smart power generation solutions – mini-LNG for power generation” of his company and what it will be exhibiting at the event. Excerpts:

 

Overview of Wartsila’s business interests in the West African
Wärtsilä has been in West Africa starting in late 1950s in Senegal. Since then we have expanded our installed base into virtually every West African country. We have a total talent pool of  300 persons in the West Africa region comprising mechanical, electrical, PLC-automation engineers along with a  full customer facing sales teams and back-office support all serving the local needs of clients from three network companies located in Dakar, Lagos, and Douala.
Wärtsilä Engine technology is utilised in a number of countries in West Africa as a significant source of power generation for on-grid and off-grid power applications.
The fuel flexibility and reliability of Wärtsilä engines has proven over time to be the technology of choice for our customers who require reliable power for their end user needs be it in the mining, utility or manufacturing segments.
This trust placed in Wärtsilä technology solutions by our customers has evolved from mostly power generation applications solutions in West Africa since the mid-1950s and now comprises marine, deep offshore, refinery and process applications.
Today, a number of specialty and offshore service vessels including FPSO’s and drill ships in the West Africa region employ Wärtsilä technology.

Current projects by the company in power sector
Wärtsilä installations can be found in virtually every African nation with the exception of about three countries. So we are quite excited about this recognition by all our customers on the continent.  We have a number of on-going IPP projects in Senegal, Cameroon, and recently announced in Nigeria a 320mw brownfield Independent Power Project (IPP) with other co-developers and partners.

Success stories that makes a difference in the lives of consumers
Wärtsilä in Africa comprises five network companies and 700 people of which 90 are field services personnel. Our people come to work across Africa every day to make the customer experience a delightful and profitable one.
The choice to deliver customer delight everyday makes all of the difference to our end-user customers.  In addition, from the customer trust point, being allowed to come alongside as a trusted partner is success in its own measure.
We choose to create and re-create success everyday by meeting and exceeding the needs of the customer as it relates to their energy needs.  The ability to be able to do this consistently over time and to be rewarded with repeat orders demonstrates the difference (value) we bring in the lives of consumers.

Biggest challenges to the power industry in Nigeria and in the region
Having been involved in the Nigeria power sector for a while I say the progress towards the set targets of the power sector reform Act have been accelerated in the last few years and this is a positive achievement despite inherent and visible constraints.
Largely, these challenges that have significant impact on the sector reform deliverables are being addressed and as such those constraints are easing up.  Specific areas relate to gas volumes and gas infrastructure for transport, long term funding of power projects, country financial and other risk ratings, cultural sensitivities relating to cost-reflective tariff and of course supply of reliable and affordable power to the consumer.
For the region, we see that with the exception of a couple of countries in West Africa, most of West African countries have a projected real GDP growth rate of 5% and this is well correlated to energy consumption so in my view I see stable investment environment for power sector across the region for those countries that have a healthy and sustainable GDP growth outlook.
While some countries may be net exporters or importers of energy, I expect that the investment in the sector will be sustained for the near to mid-term horizon provided the key drivers of economic growth are sustained. Power should then be reliable and affordable for the consumer.

Vision for this industry
In summarize, I would say the continued evolvement of the power sector (nationally and regional) into a future state where it matters not where you reside and are able to buy your power from the most competitive, efficient, reliable and affordable service provider.
Secondly, that we will in the future be able to do more cross border import/export of energy which presently is controlled by Inter-Government agreements under the WAPP thus allowing for energy “balance” across the region.
Thirdly, renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar, hydro should be significant contributors to forming a sustainable and robust portfolio of power generation solutions across the region.

Message at this year’s WAPIC
Wärtsilä is pleased to be participating in WAPIC. Our contribution follows closely the focus of our company which is to be the most valued business partner of choice for our customers. As a leader in global supply of modern, highly efficient, and dynamic power plants we will showcase our differentiated technology solutions in the area of Mini-LNG to Power.
This is quite appropriate solution for a number of countries in our region where the gas-to-power value chain has significant constraints relating to adequate gas volumes and transport for large plants.