Again, Electricity Grid Collapses To Zero 24hrs After Restoration

The national electricity grid went down again on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after it witnessed a system collapse causing a widespread power outage on Monday.

The latest system collapse occurred between 5pm and 6pm on Tuesday after the grid generation dropped from 3,000 megawatts (MW) earlier to 1,758MW leaving just 12 Generation Companies (Gencos) operating.

As of when filing this report around 7pm and two hours after the system disturbance, there was no report of any GenCo generating power on the grid, according to hourly data supplied by the System Operations (SO) arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

One industry official also corroborated the record stating that the system collapse on Tuesday was multiple, especially from the gas-fired power plants while there were efforts to supply power to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, through the three hydropower plants.

These hydros are Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro all in Niger State. Analysis of the 12 power plants operating before the grid system collapsed indicated that they were active as of 5pm and generated 1,758MW before the system went off.

The grid had up to 18 plants operating and generated 3,114MW as of 4pm before six plants went off, causing more instability for the system.

The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, had conveyed an emergency meeting that lasted through Monday night where he tasked the operators on working together to make electricity more stable.

Aliyu had said, “This meeting was summoned to address the current electricity situation in the country which we are not happy about. We must find a solution so that Nigerians will have electricity.

“I want us to have the patience to talk to each other, not blaming each other.”

The GenCos on Sunday complained of poor revenue to procure gas as well as technical issues with mostly the units of gas-fired power plants.