The Federal Government, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has announced it would investigate the cause of the multiple power grid collapses that occurred on Monday and Tuesday.
The investigation comes as the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said there was nothing like a grid collapse but a trip-off.
TCN stated that the national grid experienced a “partial disturbance” on Monday and that work to fully recover the grid was still underway on Tuesday.
TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah explained in a statement that, while grid recovery began immediately, with Azura power station providing the blackstart, it reached advanced stages at around 10.24 a.m. on Tuesday when it encountered a challenge that resulted in a minor setback in the process.
Chronicle NG reports that the national grid collapsed again on Tuesday amid restoration efforts.
“The slight setback notwithstanding, TCN continued with the grid recovery process, which has reached an advanced stage, ensuring bulk power availability to about 90 percent of its substations nationwide. Supply has been restored to the Abuja axis and other major distribution load centres nationwide,” she disclosed, even as many areas were still in darkness as of 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Mbah stated that the partial disturbance had no effect on the Ibom Gas producing station, which was disconnected from the grid yesterday and continued to feed areas in the country’s south-southeast, including the Eket, Ekim, Uyo, and Itu 132kV transmission substations during the period.
“Investigation into the cause of the incident will be carried out as soon as the grid is fully restored,” she noted.
However, the Minister of Power, Adelabu, while speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said the grid did not collapse.
“There was no grid collapse; there was a trip-off. When you talk of grid collapse, it will involve 100 percent of our grid infrastructure. But this was a line trip in certain quarters of the country; even the major centres were not affected, talk of Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan. And this was even restored within two hours.
“Let me tell you, grid disturbances are global. We are talking about electrical connections. There could be tripping off due to weather, due to the dilapidation of some infrastructure. What matters most is what is your rate of response to fix this. We responded swiftly, and within two hours, we brought it back, and it’s working now. So, it’s no big deal,” he stated.
