Themis, an Africa-focussed power company backed by Denham Capital, has partnered with Kingline Development Nigeria (Kingline) to develop a 550MW natural gas-fired power plant in Ondo State, Nigeria.

The Kingline Power Project is currently in its development stage with a target to proceed to financial close by Q2 2020, becoming fully operational in 2022. 

It will be located on 111 hectares of land in the Ondo State Industrial Park, adjacent to the existing Omotosho Power Plant.

At a Project cost of approximately $600m, the Project will be one of the lowest cost gas-to-power facilities in the international market. 

The Project pricing is underpinned by a signed EPC Agreement with an international contractor who has successfully delivered over 4,000MW of gas fired power plants in Africa. 

Accordingly, the Project has already attracted significant interest from multilateral and private institutions in arranging project debt, while the project equity requirements can be fully funded by the existing partners, with Denham Capital being the majority shareholder.

On completion, the Project is expected to provide approximately 4.5TWh of affordable energy via a highly competitive, cost-reflective tariff structure, which is expected to have a positive impact on the cost of electricity in Nigeria, delivering long-term value and affordability for energy consumers.

Tas Anvaripour, CEO of Neo Themis, said: “Our partnership with Kingline has already presented synergies that will contribute to the successful development of the Project. Themis’ involvement in the Project has played a fundamental role in laying the foundations for what can become the lowest cost-per-MW thermal plant in Nigeria. Kingline offers compelling advantages for the Federal Government of Nigeria given its extremely competitive pricing, availability of peripheral gas and transmission infrastructure, timing to operation, and technical flexibility.”

Sean Kim, CEO of Kingline, added: “We are excited to be working with Themis, who bring critical expertise and extensive power development experience, as well as proven access to financial markets. The Project has strong technical and financial support and will deliver a power solution for Nigeria, cost-competitive within any international market.”