National grid collapse: Minister of Power, Adelabu, TCN blame fire outbreak in Kainji/Jebba, as supply begins recovery from 0MW to 795 MW
Oredola Adeola
Power supply has started to recover in some parts of the country, as about 795 MegaWatts of electricity was shared by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies as of 3p.m. on Thursday, September 14, 2023, after a total national grid collapse which dropped to 0 MegaWatts as of 7 am on the same day.
Adelabu, the Minister of Power, who is currently attending the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Ministerial Conference 2023 holding in Busan, Korea, announced on his official Twitter account that the country experienced a significant decrease in frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67Hz at 00:35:06hrs, accompanied by a Jebba generation loss of 356.63MW and a drop in Kainji’s load from 451.45MW to zero at 00:35:07Hrs.
He further disclosed that the transmission frequency dropped from 49.37Hz to 48.41Hz at 00:41Hrs on Thursday, which led to the collapse of the grid system.
He noted that the cause of the grid system collapse was a fire outbreak that resulted in an explosion sound observed on Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2 (Cct K2J), with the blue phase CVT and Blue phase line Isolator of Kainji/Jebba 330kV line1 observed burning.
The Minister however said, ” We are on top of the situation and speedy restoration is in progress. The fire has been fully arrested and over half of the connections are now up and the rest will be fully restored in no time.
He further expressed appreciation to those who responded or expressed concern via different channels and the team of Engineers for their prompt response to the situation and work done so far. Let’s get the restoration work completed as soon as possible.
Giving excuse for the delay in response to several calls and request from the Ministry, Adelabu further hinted that the delay in update was deliberate, so as not to cause panic and to also be able to update on progress of remedial actions taken so far. This according to him, was to ensure economic and security saboteurs don’t take advantage of every situation reported.
Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s spokesperson claimed that the total grid collapse, which occurred at about 12.35 am, on Thursday morning, caused an outage nationwide, after over 421 days of consistent grid stability.
According to her, the collapse that occurred after a fire incident on Kanji/Jebba 330kV line 2 is being investigated, with the view to forestalling future occurrence and invariably further strengthen the grid.
She noted that grid restoration nationwide is in progress and has reached advanced stages with power supply now available in the West, North Central, South, East, and a large portion of the Northern parts of the country.
Mba said, “In the course of the grid restoration, the process initially suffered a setback; this does not amount to another collapse. In the course of any grid restoration process, challenges may be encountered. This happened today while the grid restoration was in progress, but it was promptly addressed.”
She further emphasised that the last total system collapse recorded was on 20th July 2022, and since then, to the 13th of September 2023, (421 days).
She said, “Prior to this, the system had been stable in spite of the challenges posed by zero spinning reserve and lack of System Control and lack of adequate Data Acquisition (SCADA) essential to a strong and stable grid, among others.
“TCN had been able to maintain 400 days of grid stability because it developed and deployed in-house stop gap measures and tools that it has continued to use to manage the nations grid, ensuring its stability.
Mba therefore noted that despite the system collapse incident notwithstanding, TCN is determined to continue to do its best to ensure grid stability.
EnergyDay had earlier reported that the TCN failed to transmit power to the eleven (11) electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) as the grid dropped from 4,355.2 MW on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, to 0MW on Thursday, September 2023.
As at the period of filling this report, data obtained from the system operator showed that Abuja DisCos received the highest supply with 180MW, followed by Ikeja Electric and Eko Electric that both received 150MW and 130MW.
Data further revealed that Ibadan DisCo, (75.00MW) Kano DisCo (70MW), Kaduna (60MW), Port Harcourt DisCo (50MW) Enugu DisCo (30MW), Benin(20MW), Ikeja DisCo(0MW), Jos DisCo (20MW), and Yola DisCo (10MW).
EnergyDay further gathered that the Jebba hydroelectric power plant generated the highest power output among the listed power plants in Nigeria as of the period of filling this report, as it generated 2,120.00 MW, followed by Azura-Edo gas-fired power plant with 1,365 MW.
The other power plants and their respective power outputs are as follows: Afam VI (gas/steam) – 209.30 MW, Dadinkowa G.S (hydro) – 182 MW, Delta (gas) – 8 MW, Egbin (steam) – 874 MW, Geregu (gas) – 525 MW, Ibom Power (gas) – 532 MW, Okpai (gas/steam) – 780 MW, Olorunsogo (gas) – 155.70 MW, Omotosho (gas) – 98.90 MW, Omotosho NIPP (gas) – 96.90 MW.
