Blackout Looms As National Grid Collapses
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Friday, announced that the nation’s electricity grid again recorded total collapse.
However, it swiftly stated that restoration of the grid was at an advanced stage and explained that the total collapse was attributed to tripping of three generator units at Egbin power generation station in Lagos.
A source in the station confirmed to INDEPENDENT the tripping off of the generators.
But TCN said it is currently working hard to swiftly restore the collapsing grid.
A daily report on Nigeria’s power sector released by the transmission company on Friday said that the grid collapsed totally on Thursday, September 28, 2017, after the country generated 3,515 megawatts of electricity the preceding day.
“A total system collapse was recorded on September 28, 2017 at 20:03Hrs. Reports obtained from stations and the sequence of events generated by the SCADA system indicated that the system collapse was triggered by the tripping of Egbin Units ST4, ST6 and ST5 at ‘20:03:15, 20:03:32 and 20:03:34’ respectively.
“By this incident, the Nigerian electric power grid lost generation completely before restoration commenced at 20:22Hrs.”
It explained that the analysis of the event indicated that grid generation was curtailed to about 4,262.7MW before the beginning of the disturbance due to capacity under-utilization, as the operational capability required to maintain grid stability had waned.
According to the company, the development left the system vulnerable to the extent that perturbations of this magnitude resulted in severe system frequency dip that culminated in system collapse.
In 2016, the national grid collapsed six times in few days plunging the nation into a severe blackout.
Stakeholders in the power sector have advocated the need for the Federal Government to decentralize the grid with a view to freeing it from hitches.
Recently, the Federal Government said it will inject about 340 megawatts of electricity into the national grid before the end of the year.
Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Raji Fashola, who stated this in Enugu, added that government expects additional 450 megawatts from the Azura Power Plant before the end of first quarter next year to complement the already existing output.
The Minister also appealed to members of the public to take advantage of the whistle-blowing policy to report those stealing energy in the country as a means of checking over billings and estimation currently by Distribution Companies (DisCos) to recover lost energies.
-Independent-