Power Grid Collapses, TCN Reaches 90% Restoration

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Tuesday reported the collapse of the national power grid.

The spokesperson for the company said the incident occurred at 11:13am, and that restoration of the grid had reached 90 percent at the time of filing this report.

The company did not immediately state the reasons for the system collapse but confirmed that its cause was still being assessed and that actions were being taken to restore electricity supply nationwide. Our Correspondent reports that the grid has recorded multiple hitches this year, causing total outages and in some cases, partial outages.

Between 2017 and 2019, the power Generation Companies (GenCos) connected to the national grid were enforced by TCN to put their machines on Free Governor Mode of Operations to reduce the spare of system collapse.

Records from TCN this year put reduction in system disturbances at 60 percent. However, a 240 megawatts (MW) spinning reserve TCN contracted with about seven GenCos to use to stabilise the grid before it collapses like that Tuesday, is still on hold.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was yet to approve the extraordinary tariff after it held consultations with members of the public on it in March 2020.