The federal government has attributed the national grid’s collapse on Thursday morning to a fire outbreak that occurred on the Kainji/Jebba 330kV line.
This incident resulted in a significant loss of approximately 356.63 megawatts in power generation.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, shared this information via a series of tweets from his official handle on Thursday. This development sheds light on the specific cause behind the disruption in the national grid’s operation.
“At 00:35 Hrs this morning, a Fire outbreak with an explosion sound was observed on Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2 (Cct K2J) blue phase CVT & Blue phase line Isolator of Kainji/Jebba 330kV line1 was observed burning.
“This led to sharp drops in frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67 Hz at 0:35:06Hrs with Jebba generation loss of 356.63MW,” Mr Adelabu said.
He stated that Kainji power station began reducing its load from 451.45 megawatts at 00:35:07 hours until it reached zero.
“At 00:41 Hrs frequency dropped further from 49.37 Hz to 48.41 Hz resulting in the system collapse of the grid.
“We are on top of the situation and speedy restoration is in progress. The fire has been fully arrested and over half of the connections are now up and the rest will be fully restored in no time.
“My sincere appreciation to those who responded or expressed concern via different channels and the team of Engineers for their prompt response to the situation and work done so far. Let’s get the restoration work completed as soon as possible,” he said.
He clarified that the intentional delay in providing updates was intended to prevent unnecessary panic and to allow for the gradual disclosure of progress made in implementing remedial measures.
“This is to ensure economic and security saboteurs don’t take advantage of every situation reported,” he said.
On Thursday morning, Nigerians experienced a sudden blackout as the national grid system suffered a collapse. This system is overseen by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), headquartered in Osogbo, Osun State. Reports from various Distribution Companies confirmed that this grid failure occurred in the early hours of Thursday, resulting in the shutdown of many of their power feeders.
Remarkably, this collapse follows a period during which the TCN proudly declared that the country’s power grid had maintained uninterrupted stability for over 400 consecutive days. In August, the TCN had lauded the Nigerian power grid’s exceptional performance, highlighting its remarkable streak without any major disruptions or system failures.
“This milestone signifies a remarkable advancement in the nation’s efforts at strengthening its power infrastructure and ensuring a reliable and dependable electricity supply to distribution load centres for onward distribution to electricity customers nationwide,” the company said in a statement.
