The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced the “full” restoration of the national electricity grid after it collapsed on Sunday, January 4.
In a statement by the TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said low power generation has persisted since January 2024 due to the “lingering gas constraint.”
She disclosed that before the incident, the total generation on the grid was 3,901.25 MW at 8 a.m. a little over three hours before the time of the “partial” collapse.
The Sunday collapse threw several cities including the nation’s capital Abuja, into darkness. The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed that the collapse occurred at around 11 a.m.
Parts of the statement by TCN said; “The National Control Center (NCC), the Internet of Things (IoT) revealed that just before the partial disturbance, which occurred at 11:21 Hrs on Sunday, Sapele Steam & Egbin Substations lost a total of 29.32MW and 343.84MW at 11:20:14 Hrs and 11:20:17 Hrs respectively, totalling 373.16MW.
“Ensuring sufficient gas supply to power generating stations is crucial for grid stability as sufficient generation allows for better grid management in the event of sudden generation losses like this.”
This is less than two months after the national grid system collapsed in December, throwing the country into darkness.
Last Friday, the Nigerian government attributed the main cause of poor power supply in the country to the low supply of gas to generating companies (GenCos).
A statement by Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said “Power supply during the yuletide improved, but unfortunately, we’ve experienced setbacks in the new year. After investigations, it’s clear that the main cause of poor power supply is the low supply of gas to GenCos.”.
