The local Mangal Industries has inked a 10-year operations and maintenance agreement with Finland’s Wartsila for the 50MW captive power plant at its new cement factory at Iluagba in Kogi state, northern Nigeria.

The cement factory is due to begin commercial operations during the second quarter of this year. The power plant is critical to the project since the site is remote and has limited access to the electricity grid.

Mangal Industries signed an estimated US$600 million contract with China-based Sinoma International Engineering in 2021 to build the 3 million tonne-a-year cement plant and captive power station. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in July 2022.

The captive power plant will initially run on liquid fuel, but will switch to natural gas once the supply pipeline is commissioned. The facility’s five dual-fuel engines could eventually be converted to operate with low or zero-carbon fuels when they become available.

Wartsila Energy now operates captive power plants for cement factories in three different states in Nigeria, with a combined installed capacity of more than 400MW.

According to Dangote Cement, annual per capita cement consumption in Nigeria is 122kg compared to the global average of 541kg.