Nigeria: US firm invests in gas IPP

Energy investor American Capital Energy & Infrastructure (ACEI) has announced it will invest $130m in Azura Power Holdings Ltd, which is developing the 450MW Azura-Edo open-cycle gas turbine power plant near Benin City in Edo State. The product of an April fundraising, the capital will be used to develop the first and second stages of the project. Azura-Edo is the flagship project in the Nigerian government’s power sector reform programme, which aims to end years of power shortages through the privatisation of state-owned power companies, ultimately aiming to boost generation capacity to 20,000MW, a target which would require capital injection of $3.5bn per year.