Update1: Grid collapse: TCN Begins Power Restoration in Parts of Nigeria

The generators have begun to go quiet in many parts of Nigeria as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) begins to rectify technical issues that led to the grid collapse, and gradually electricity is being restored power in many parts of Nigeria.

BusinessDay inquiries across different DisCos have shown power is being restored.

“Yes, I can confirm that power is being restored gradually,” says Abdullazeez Abdullah, communication spokesman of Kaduna DisCo in a phone conversation with BusinessDay around 11am. He also confirmed that in parts of Sokoto, Niger and Kaduna power had yet to be restored.

Around many parts of Lagos, Kaduna, Abuja and Port Harcourt, power was being restored. Electricity customers confirmed in social media posts directed at their DisCos that power has been restored in their areas.

Nigerians were forced to turn on their generators Saturday morning when the national grid collapsed again, the tenth time this year, throwing the entire nation into darkness. Africa’s biggest oil producer also imports the most generators in the world which a recent Dalberg study puts at 22 million across the country.

The unstable national grid can barely wheel 5,000MW of electricity without experiencing difficulties. According to data from the Systems Operator of the National Grid, peak generation on November 7, rose to 4,922.60MW and the next day and the systems failed shortly thereafter.

Our correspondent could not immediately confirm if the higher power generation supplied to the grid was responsible for its collapse. TCN spokesperson did not provide clarifications. However, the grid has been known to fail when it receives either too much or too little generation, or because of other technical issues.

The last collapse recorded in July according to TCN was attributed to high voltage following massive drop of load by the DisCos. It said the high voltage was caused by a fire incident in the 75MX reactor in the Benin Substation Sapele Road in Benin, Edo State.

The TCN, in a statement made available to our correspondent around 6.28 pm, said the national grid experienced a system collapse today at 9.10 am due to high voltage following a massive drop of load by the electricity distribution companies.

It said the high voltage also caused a fire incident in the 75MX reactor in the Benin Substation, Sapele Road in Benin City, Edo State.

Nigerians turn to their generators Saturday morning when the national grid collapsed again, the tenth time this year, throwing the entire nation into darkness.

According to details on the website of the system operator, as at November 9, there was no generation statistics at 04:47.00 hours indicating that the grid did not transmit any power.

Corroborating this, Ikeja Electric sent out a tweet to customers saying “the current interruption in power supply is due to a system collapse of the transmission stations. The transmission Company of Nigeria is currently working to restore supply and we expect Ikeja Electric Network to be restored soon,”

Power went off in the early hours of Saturday morning around 1am in a manner that suggested technical issues were at play. It came on briefly in parts of Lagos two hours later and went off.

Abuja DisCos assured customers that work is on-going to restore power across the country as some systems have begun to come online.

A recent study by Dalberg suggests that there are over 22 million small generators in use in Nigeria due to poor power supply.

The TCN claims it has capacity to deliver over 6,000MW of power but the unstable network can hardly wheel up 5,000MW leading to system collapses when there is too much or too little generation to the grid.