March 28, 2024

Blackout as TCN records 29th system collapse in 3 years

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Blackout as TCN records 29th system collapse in 3 years

Blackout as TCN records 29th system collapse in 3 years

Once again, the Nigeria electricity has suffered a system collapse for the  29th time in three years. The latest incident which occured on Wednesday has resulted in nationawide blackouts, worsening the supply situation in most parts of the country. The collapse, occurred around 11.00 am on Wednesday.

The incident was confirmed by the electricity distribution companies in separate messages to their customers, including Kaduna, Ibadan, Ikeja and Eko Discos.
Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, manager of Nigeria’s electricity grid, while also acknowledging collapse of the  power grid, attributed it to  a drop in voltage.


The General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Ndidi Mbah, in a statement issued in Abuja, on Wednesday, disclosed that the company had to immediately commence grid recovery after the collapse.

She said the restoration started from a hydro-power generation station in Niger State down to Abuja through Delta to Benin and up to Lagos.

Mbah said, “The Transmission Company of Nigeria,  hereby states that at about 11.01am today, 12th of May, 2021, there was a total system collapse of the grid, as a result of voltage collapse at some parts of the grid.

“TCN commenced grid recovery immediately after the collapse, from Shiroro Generating Station to Katampe TS, Abuja through the Shiroro – Katampe line at 11:29am, and also through Delta Generating Station to Benin Transmission Substation and has reached Osogbo and parts of Lagos,”
TCN spokesperson said .

She hinted that  grid and power restoration had begun and would lead to restoration of light to other parts of the country;  while adding that the cause of voltage collapse was equally being investigated.

TCN appealed for patience, stressing that it was working assiduously to ensure full restoration of the grid and consequently power supply to the remaining parts of the country.

Investigation by EnergyDay revealed that the collapsed power grid, usually managed by TCN, has been in that state  over the years due to lack of spinning reserve that is meant to forestall such  a reoccurrence.

The TCN needs an average of 400MW of spinning reserves, but currently has none, while it is still   expecting the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to approve the 260MW of spinning reserves it recently procured.  It was gathered that spinning reserve  is the generation capacity that is online but unloaded and that can respond within 10 minutes to compensate for generation or transmission outages

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