The Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced the successful restoration of the national power grid, attributing the disturbance to limitations in the supply of gas.
In a statement released on Friday, TCN disclosed that the grid disturbance occurred at 4:20 pm on Thursday, March 28, and that the grid was restored by 10 pm that same evening.
The company pointed out that the instability of the grid worsened with the unexpected failure of the Egbin generation’s turbine 3, which led to an extra loss of 167MW load, causing the grid to subsequently fail.
- “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.
- “According to a report from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, the system disturbance was triggered by a significant reduction in generation capacity, primarily due to gas constraints.
- “This reduction led to a rapid decline in system frequency. This created 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 collapse of the grid.
- “The grid has, however, since been recovered and is stable, and is currently transmitting all the generated power to distribution load centres nationwide,” the statement reads.
Backstory
Earlier, it was reported the central management hub in Osogbo, Osun State, witnessed the national electricity grid’s collapse at 4:30 pm on Thursday, affecting power supply to millions of homes and businesses.
According to various distribution companies (DisCos), their feeders became inactive, resulting in widespread blackouts across the country.
According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the grid failed around 4 pm on Thursday, plummeting from 2,984 megawatts (MW) to zero within an hour, leading to all 21 connected plants halting operations by 5 pm.
In addition, Nairemetrics also reported that the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has announced the collapse of the national grid resulting in total blackout nationwide.
The company disclosed this in a statement to its customers on its official X handle.