ELECTRICITY: Transition Company of Nigeria says national grid successfully restored after collapse

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has reported said it has successfully restored the national grid following a system disturbance at 4:28 p.m. on Thursday.

In a statement Friday evening, the TCN said full recovery was achieved by 10:00 p.m. same day.

It said that a report from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, indicated that the system disturbance was triggered by a significant reduction in generation capacity, primarily due to gas constraints.

It noted that the reduction led to a rapid decline in system frequency, creating a sudden grid imbalance.

It added that the imbalance in grid stability was exacerbated by the sudden tripping of Egbin generation turbine 3, resulting in an additional loss of 167MW load and the subsequent collapse of the grid.

“The grid has, however, since been recovered and is stable, and is currently transmitting all the generated power to distribution load centres nationwide.

“TCN emphasizes its unwavering commitment to addressing grid challenges and actively working to mitigate disruptions.

“In instances where challenges extend beyond TCN’s control, the company collaborates with other stakeholders in the power sector value chain to minimize the impact and swiftly restore the grid to normal operation,” the statement partly read.

Earlier, electricity distribution companies (DisCos), most of whom have been alleged to be subjecting Nigerian consumers to situation where they have to be responsible for their own electricity use despite being made to pay for bills without stable supply even before any national grid collapse, have pleaded for understanding from their customers as the country plunged into another blackout due to the grid collapse.

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in a statement, begged for understanding from its customers.

“The system collapsed at about 16:28 hours today 28 March 2024, causing the outage currently being experienced across our franchise area,” AEDC posted on its X handle.

“We appeal for your understanding as all stakeholders are working hard to restore normal supply.”

In a similar notice to its customers, the management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said the system collapse led to a loss of power supply across its network.

“We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored. Kindly bear with us,” EKEDC said.

Thursday’s incident marked the second time the national grid has collapsed this year following an earlier collapse on February 4 which threw the nation into darkness.

The national grid also collapsed multiple times in 2023. It collapsed twice in September 2023 alone and once in December that year.