TCN blames gas constraints as national grid collapses again

Nigeria on Sunday experienced its first power grid collapse in 2024, throwing major cities into total blackout.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), confirmed the incident and said the collapse occurred at about 11:21 hours.

“The management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) wishes to inform its valued customers that the power outage being experienced is as a result of a system failure from the national grid at 11:21 hours today, 4th February 2024 which has led to a nationwide power outage.

“Be rest assured that we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is Stabilized,” it said.

Meanwhile, a check at the hourly generation data from the System Operator showed that as of 12 p.m. on Sunday, generation dropped from 3,852 MWs to 59.90 MWs.

As of the time, all the about 20 generating plants went off the grid except for Ibom Power and Azura Edo (IPP) Gas generating generated 31.90 MW and 28 MW, respectively.

But at 1 p.m. the grip picked up to 174 MWs up till 6 p.m. 1,321.75MW.

Reacting to the development, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in a statement on Sunday night described the incident as a “partial disturbance”.

According to the company, prior to the partial disturbance, low power generation had persisted since January 2024, saying this has been exacerbating daily due to the lingering gas constraint.

In a statement issued by the Company’s spokesperson, Mrs. Ndidi Mba, said it initiated immediate restoration of the affected part of the grid.

“Presently, the grid is fully restored,” it said.

The statement reads: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN hereby states that the grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 11:21Hours today with Ibom power islanded, feeding Eket, Ekim, Itu & Uyo transmission substations, during the period of partial disturbance.

“According to the National Control Center (NCC), the Internet of Things (IoT) revealed that just before the partial disturbance, which occurred at 11:21Hrs today, Sapele Steam & Egbin Substations lost a total of 29.32MW & 343.84MW at 11:20:14Hrs & 11:20:17Hrs respectively, totalling 373.16MW.

“This, combined with the current low power generation due to gas constraints, caused the imbalance leading to the partial system disturbance.”

The Company noted that Gas constraints continue to impact grid flexibility and stability stressing the need for guaranteed gas supply to GenCos.

“Ensuring sufficient gas supply to power generating stations is crucial for grid stability as sufficient generation allows for better grid management in the event of sudden generation losses like this. TCN will investigate the cause of tripping of Sapele Steam & Egbin power generating units,” it added.