By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja
Nigeria’s national power grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, collapsed yesterday, the 11th time in 2024, leaving the country in complete blackout.
Data from the National System Operator, NSO, showed that as of 2pm yesterday none of Nigeria’s 26 power plants was on the grid.
Prior to that time, checks at about 1pm showed that 15 plants were on the grid generating a combined 3,087MW, with Egbin generating 666MW, Jebba Hydro at 427MW and Azura-Edo IPP at 379MW as top four power plants.
The latest collapse came despite a directive by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, for full implementation of the recommendations made by the ministry’s committee set up to resolve the challenges faced by the grid.
After the 10th collapse, the Minister promised that short, medium and long term measures would be taken to curb incessant electricity grid collapses.
Meanwhile, electricity distribution companies, DiscCos, confirmed the incident on their social media handles while assuring consumers that they were working with stakeholders to restore the grid.
Abuja DisCo in a post on its X (twitter) stated: “Dear Valued Customers, we wish to inform you that a system disturbance occurred on the national grid at 1:32pm today causing power outage across our franchise areas. While gradual restoration of power supply has commenced, be assured that we are coordinating closely with relevant stakeholders to restore power fully as soon as the grid is stabilized”.
Eko DisCo in Lagos posted: “Dear valued customer, kindly be informed there was a reported case of system disturbance on 11th December, 2024 at 13:32hrs which has resulted in a loss of power supply across our network. We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as power supply is restored. Kindly bear with us”.
How grid collapse impacts our operations — GenCos
In a note on frequent collapse of the national grid, the Chief Executive, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr. Joy Ogaji highlighted the significant mechanical and commercial impacts of grid collapses on generation companies (GenCos).
Although the full industry-wide impact on GenCos is yet to be quantified, Dr. Ogaji revealed that the Kainji and Jebba hydro plants alone have incurred losses of N21.87 billion due to system instability this year.
“Grid collapse poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s power sector, resulting in frequent disruptions, equipment damage, and substantial revenue losses for GenCos. Technically, grid collapse can cause catastrophic damage to generators, transformers, and other critical infrastructure, leading to prolonged downtime and costly repairs”.
