National Grid Fully Restored After Sunday Collapse, Says TCN

Following the power outage that greeted most parts of the country on Sunday, the Transition Company of Nigeria, TCN, says the national grid has now been ‘fully restored’.

The grid collapsed for the first time this year sending shock waves to many households and business owners, who depend on power that the country may likely suffer incessant power disruptions similar to what was experienced last year.

According to checks from Distribution Companies, Discos, electricity supply from the TCN dropped to the lowest ebb at the weekend as a larger part of the country was thrown into total darkness.

Details supplied by Discos entails that electricity megawatts supplied to the national grid as of 4 pm yesterday had dropped by not less than 80 percent of the over 3,500 megawatts usually available.

At a certain point yesterday also, the grid was down to Zero megawatts leading to zero allocations to the discos.

Reacting, Ndidi Mba, spokesperson for the TCN said in a statement that  the problem was a partial disturbance, adding that the grid had now come back to life fully, citing insufficient gas supply to the TCN as reason for power disruptions.

She said the company has launched investigations into the cause of the problem with a view to ensure that Nigerians enjoy stable power supply

Part of the statement said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN hereby states that the grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 11:21Hours today with Ibom power islanded, feeding Eket, Ekim, Itu & Uyo transmission substations, during the period of partial disturbance.

“According to the National Control Center (NCC), the Internet of Things (IoT) revealed that just before the partial disturbance, which occurred at 11:21Hrs today, Sapele Steam & Egbin Substations lost a total of 29.32MW & 343.84MW at 11:20:14Hrs & 11:20:17Hrs respectively, totalling 373.16MW.

“This, combined with the current low power generation due to gas constraints, caused the imbalance leading to the partial system disturbance.”

“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 tripping of Sapele Steam & Egbin power generating units.”

Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians have countered the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu after he said last week that the federal government was considering removing subsidy on power.

They are asking the Minister why they should pay for electricity that is not constantly available.