Lagos State Govt. dedicates Independent Power Plant, IPP to exclusively service new 27km LRMT Blue Line
Oredola Adeola
The Lagos State Government has established the Blue Line Independent Power Plant ( IPP) exclusively dedicated to service the corridor by ensuring zero power interruption and providing power for the electrification of the first phase of the 27-kilometer rail system, Lagos Rail Mass Transit, LMRT, Blue line operations transiting between Marina-Mile-2, the axis of the state.
This was confirmed in a statement by Olalere Odusote, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, obtained by EnergyDay Nigeria.
According to him, the Blue Line IPP (Independent Power Plant) is a major groundbreaking effort of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu Administration.
He said, “The IPP was designed to ensure zero power interruption, withstand the electricity demand of the train, and deal with the complexity of converting AC Power to DC Power at the highest demand capacity in Nigeria, and possibly West Africa.
“I am honoured to have contributed to making history in Lagos with this groundbreaking project,” the Commissioner said.
EnergyDay further gathered that the Independent Power Plant (IPP) will be powering the Blue intra-city metro line, which will guarantee an efficient transportation system to complement land transportation, thereby increasing mobility through an interconnected transportation model.
The Blue Line rail project, the section is a 5.5km elevated rail route that spans from National Theatre via Ijora over the Lagos lagoon through Ebute-Ero to Elegbata and Marina.
A short video shared by the Commissioner and monitored by EnergyDay showed that the Blue rail IPP scope is grouped into four including Power supply, Distribution, Communication, and Traction systems.
The documentary said, “The Power supply system integrates electricity supply from the grid with a dynamic rotatory Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) and gas generator designed with detailed attention to redundancy, reliability, and quality of the power supply.
“The grid supply comes from two substations at the same time, this enables the entire system to provide perfect condition electrical power output and ensure zero interruption.
“The group comprises of constantly rotating energy storage with a flywheel, backup engine, and alternator.
“If the public power grid fails, the system acts immediately without interruption because it is already in operation.
“Part of the energy stored in the flywheel is used to drive the generator which continues to energise the train system.
“The other amount of stored rotational energy is used to facilitate the start-up of the backup engine.
“The Distribution system is made of 23 kilometers of 33KV cables and ancillary systems built with redundancy as a double circuit system to improve reliability.
“The tractions system was carefully designed to convert 33KV AC to 750V to ensure that the voltage across the third rail is maintained at 750V.
“The Lagos State Government built six traction substations across the spans of the train network to deliver uninterrupted through the train system.
EnergyDay’s check also showed that the Blue Line is expected to convey 200,000 passengers daily, making Lagos one of the world cities with a functional mass transit system.
Engr. Abimbola Akinajo, Managing Director, Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA) in a two-minute video seen by EnergyDay confirmed that the train corridor would be electrified.
She added that the corridor could lead to electrocution of unauthorised invaders, which was the reason for the installation of a fence to protect the entire Blue line right of way, from Mile 2 to Marina, especially on Mile 2, Orile and Agboju located around the rail corridor.
The LAMATA MD further noted that the electric train is ideal in view of the global energy transition and sustainable energy advocacy to reduce Greenhouse Gases(GhG). She added that the Blue line would be activated by about 700Kva of electricity.
