Power outage spreads as grid collapses

The national electricity grid collapsed on Wednesday, dropping power generation to about 260 megawatts (MW) and causing nationwide outage.

However, few hours later, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which manages the grid said the recovery began immediately with power restored to Abuja and some parts of the southwest.

According to real-time power grid records by the Independent System Operations (ISO) section of TCN, none of the over 20 Generation Companies (GenCos) produced energy as of 1:00pm due to the system collapse.

As of Tuesday, the peak power generation was 4,757MW, while the lowest generation was 3,976MW. While 101,605 megawatts hour (MWH) energy was generated, consumers through the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) utilised 99,955MWH.

TCN in a statement by its spokesperson, Mrs Ndidi Mbah confirmed the 11:00am grid system collapse due to drop in voltage.

“TCN commenced grid recovery immediately after the collapse, from Shiroro Generating Station to Katampe Transmission Station in 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.

“While the grid restoration and power restoration gradually progress to other parts of the country, the cause of voltage collapse that precipitated this failure is equally being investigated,” the public utility company and power grid manager stated

As at 7:00pm, the grid had reached 1,650MW, with Abuja, Eko, Ikeja and Ibadan DisCos having the highest supply of 200MW each while the seven other DisCos have less.