The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has fully restored the collapsed national electricity grid.
The TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, disclosed this in a statement Sunday evening.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria, (TCN) hereby states that the grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 11:21 hours today with Ibom power islanded, feeding Eket, Ekim, Itu & Uyo transmission substations, during the period of partial disturbance.
“TCN initiated immediate restoration of the affected part of the grid, and presently, the grid is fully restored,” Ms Mbah said.
She noted that prior to the incident, the total generation on the grid was 3,901.25 MW at 8 a.m, a little over three hours before the time of the partial collapse.
“It is important to note that low power generation has persisted since January 2024, to date, exacerbating daily due to the lingering gas constraint.
“According to the National Control Center (NCC), the Internet of Things (IoT) revealed that just before the partial disturbance, which occurred at 11:21 Hrs on Sunday, Sapele Steam & Egbin Substations lost a total of 29.32MW and 343.84MW at 11:20:14 Hrs and 11:20:17 Hrs respectively, totalling 373.16MW,” she added.
This, she said, combined with the current low power generation due to gas constraints, caused the imbalance leading to the partial system disturbance.
She explained that gas constraints continue to impact grid flexibility and stability.
“Ensuring sufficient gas supply to power generating stations is crucial for grid stability as sufficient generation allows for better grid management in the event of sudden generation losses like this.
“TCN will investigate the cause of the tripping of Sapele Steam & Egbin power generating units,” she said.
Background
Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed earlier on Sunday throwing several cities including the nation’s capital Abuja, into darkness.
Informing its customers of the collapse, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) said the collapse occurred at around 11 a.m.
The latest collapse occurred less than two months after the national grid system collapsed in December and Nigerians were thrown into darkness.
Last Friday, the Nigerian government attributed the main cause of poor power supply in the country to the low supply of gas to generating companies (GenCos).
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who disclosed this in a statement, said “Power supply during the yuletide improved, but unfortunately, we’ve experienced setbacks in the new year. After investigations, it’s clear that the main cause of poor power supply is the low supply of gas to GenCos.”
The TCN had in January said that there was a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid due to gas constraints.
The company said this impacted the quantum of bulk power available on the transmission grid for onward transmission to the distribution load centres nationwide.
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