"The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced the successful restoration of the collapsed national electricity transmission grid," stated TCN General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, in a press release on Friday.
Mbah clarified, "The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has successfully restored the national grid following a system disturbance that occurred at 4:28 p.m. on Thursday, 28th March 2024, with full recovery achieved by 10:00 p.m. that same day."
She attributed the disturbance to "a significant reduction in generation capacity, primarily due to gas constraints," according to a report from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo.
Explaining further, Mbah stated, "This reduction led to a rapid decline in system frequency, creating a sudden imbalance in the grid. The imbalance in grid stability was exacerbated by the sudden tripping of Egbin generation turbine 3, resulting in an additional loss of 167MW load and the subsequent grid collapse."
However, she assured that the grid has been recovered since then and is currently stable, transmitting all generated power to distribution load centers nationwide.
Mbah emphasized TCN's unwavering commitment to addressing grid challenges and mitigating disruptions. "In instances where challenges extend beyond TCN’s control, the company collaborates with other stakeholders in the power sector value chain to minimize the impact and swiftly restore the grid to normal operation," she added.
Background:
On Thursday afternoon, Nigerians experienced a blackout after the national grid system collapsed, operated by TCN from Osogbo, Osun State. This collapse occurred less than a month after a similar incident in February. The power sector has faced challenges related to electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and significant planning shortfalls. Despite government efforts to improve efficiency by privatizing generation and distribution companies in 2013, the grid has collapsed over 140 times since then.