For the second time in less than six hours, the national grid has failed with a double collapse, plunging both households and businesses into darkness on Thursday. Power generation plummeted by a staggering 93.5% to just 273MW.
The most recent breakdown occurred just a fortnight after the contentious commemoration of 400 days of uninterrupted and incident-free operations by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.
Seven grid collapses were recorded in the year 2022, and in response, the Federal Government pledged to address the recurring issue of power grid instability.
Data furnished by the National System Operator, a semi-autonomous entity within the Transmission Company of Nigeria, indicated that the grid collapsed at around 12:35 am on Thursday.
Several hours later, at about 6:40 am, the grid suffered a second collapse, throwing the entire nation into darkness with no public power supply.
According to data from the NSO, as of 1:30 pm yesterday, the grid had initiated a gradual recovery, with load allocation to distribution companies reaching 585 Megawatts.
Among distribution companies, Ikeja DisCo secured the highest load allocation at 150MW, closely followed by Eko DisCo and Abuja DisCo, each receiving 80MW.
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The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, blamed the collapse on a fire incident on Kainji/Jebba 330KV Line 2, adding that the incident is being investigated, with ‘the view to forestalling future occurrence and invariably further strengthening the grid.’
A statement by TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, stated that ‘grid restoration nationwide is in progress and has reached advanced stages, with power supply now available in the West, North-Central, South, East, and a large portion of the northern parts of the country.’
‘The power supply restoration is sequel to the total grid collapse, which occurred at about 12.35 am, this morning (yesterday), causing outages nationwide, after over 421 days of consistent grid stability.’
‘In the course of grid restoration, the process initially suffered a setback; this does not amount to another collapse. In the course of any grid restoration process, challenges may be encountered. This happened today while the grid restoration was in progress, but it was promptly addressed’.
Confirming the collapse on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, said: ‘At 00:35Hrs this morning, Fire outbreak with explosion sound was observed on Kainji/Jebba 330KV Line 2 (Cct K2J) blue phase CVT & Blue phase line Isolator of Kainji/Jebba 330KV Line1 was observed burning. This led to sharp drops in frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67 Hz at 0:35:06Hrs with Jebba generation loss of 356.63MW.’
One other government official, who pleaded anonymity, said: ‘The grid has been very unstable for days before the latest system collapse. As we speak, there is a blackout.’
Based on Africa Today News, New York’s findings, Nigeria’s electricity generation dipped significantly on Tuesday, falling by 59% to 1,705 megawatts (MW) from the 4,182 MW recorded the day before at 06:00 hours, primarily due to grid disturbances.