The national grid has collapsed for the third time in a week, causing another blackout across the country
Data from the Nigerian system operator’s portal revealed that the national grid recorded zero megawatts (MW) as of 9:10 a.m. on Saturday, marking the third collapse within a week.
So far in 2024, the national grid has collapsed eight times, with the first failure recorded on February 4.
Subsequent collapses occurred on March 28, April 15, July 6, and August 5. Nigerians also faced blackouts on October 14 and October 15.On May 1, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported a significant reduction in the frequency of system collapses.
According to TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah, grid disturbances have decreased by 76.47 percent over the last five years.
Commenting on the ongoing issues, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu attributed the frequent grid failures to outdated infrastructure.
He emphasized that investing in power infrastructure is key to preventing future collapses. Adelabu also advocated for decentralizing the power sector, suggesting that establishing multiple regional and state grids would prevent widespread outages when a disturbance occurs at the national grid.
The minister further explained that Nigeria’s reliance on a single national grid means that any disturbance affects all 36 states.
He noted that the new Electricity Act has decentralized power, enabling state and local governments to participate in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity.
TCN, also disclosed that the national grid experienced a temporary disturbance at about 8:15 am on Sunday leading to nationwide power outages.
They further explained that a report from the NCC (National Control Centre) showed that “the bus section of a current transformer exploded at 330kV Jebba Transmission Substation and as expected, the protection system was activated, and this promptly opened the busbars to curtail the explosion, thereby preventing the outbreak of fire and further damage to adjacent equipment.1 / 1:00
It reads in p[art: “The action of the protection system led to a temporary disturbance on the grid. Our engineers at Jebba have successfully carried out switchings, isolating the faulty current transformer. They have equally reconfigured the busbar arrangement, restoring power supply to the station, and other parts of the grid”.
Media checks on the latest data from the National System Operator showed that as of 12 noon, supply had recovered to 496.20MW.
Data supplied by the National System Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, showed grid supply was 3,041.72MW as of 8 am. It dropped significantly to 47MW by 9 am with only Azura-Edo IPP on the grid.
Further analysis showed that the grid on Friday recorded a peak supply of 4,807.2MW with 4,011.27MW as the lowest supply.
The national grid on its verified social media account, X (formerly Twitter) confirmed that seven of the nation’s eleven electricity distribution companies had zero load allocation.
Only Benin DisCo (70 MW), Ibadan DisCo (60 MW), Ikeja DisCo (30 MW) and Eko DisCo (20 MW) had minimal supply as of 10.16 am.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria had on Friday announced that two towers along its 330kV Shiroro–Kaduna transmission lines one and two have been vandalized, damaging parts of both transmission lines.
According to reports from the Shiroro Regional office of TCN, the 330kV transmission line one tripped first, followed shortly by the second, as efforts were still ongoing to reclose the first line, prompting the urgent mobilization of local vigilantes to patrol the lines.
This led to the discovery of two damaged towers, towers T133 and tower T 136, with their cables badly damaged at several points.
