The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced that the national grid has been fully restored following a partial disturbance at approximately 15:09 hours on Saturday.
In a statement released on Sunday, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, attributed the disturbance to the unexpected tripping of three units at a power generating station, which abruptly removed 313 MW from the grid, causing system instability and a loss of bulk supply to a section of the national grid.
“The system disturbance, which brings to three the number of partial grid disturbances, with one total disturbance this year, is suspected to have been triggered by the unexpected tripping of three units of a power generating station. This sudden removal of 313MW from the grid caused system instability, leading to the loss of bulk supply to a section of the national grid,” the statement read.
The TCN explained that the system operator responded to the sudden drop in generation, which led to a frequency dip, by isolating a section of the grid.
This included the Ibom Power Station, which continued to supply power to Uyo, Aba, Itu, Eket, Calabar, and surrounding areas, even as other sections of the grid experienced outages.
“Operators commenced grid restoration efforts immediately after the incident. By 21:57 hours on Saturday, the entire affected part of the grid was successfully restored,” the statement added.
News About Nigeria reported that the grid collapse resulted in a nationwide blackout affecting various states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
This grid collapse came barely three days after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a tariff increase for Band A customers, from N206.80 per kilowatt-hour to N209.50/kWh.
