Federal Government, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced an investigation into the multiple power grid collapses that occurred on Monday and Tuesday.
This is as the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu clarified that these incidents should be referred to as trip-offs rather than grid collapses, according to The Punch.
TCN described the situation as a partial disturbance, noting that efforts to fully restore the grid were still in progress as of Tuesday.
TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah stated that the recovery of the grid began immediately, with the Azura power station facilitating the blackstart. However, by around 10:24 AM on Tuesday, the recovery efforts faced a setback due to an unexpected challenge, hindering progress at that stage.
“The slight setback notwithstanding, TCN continued with the grid recovery process, which has reached an advanced stage, ensuring bulk power availability to about 90 per cent of its substations nationwide. Supply has been restored to the Abuja axis and other major distribution load centres nationwide,” she disclosed, even as many areas were still in darkness as of 7 pm on Tuesday.
Mbah clarified that the partial disturbance did not impact the Ibom Gas generating station, which remained islanded from the grid. It continued to supply power to areas in the South-South region, including Eket, Ekim, Uyo, and the Itu 132kV transmission substations during this period.
“Investigation into the cause of the incident will be carried out as soon as the grid is fully restored,” she noted.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Adelabu on Tuesday, said the grid did not collapse.
“There was no a grid collapse; there was a trip-off. When you talk of grid collapse, it will involve 100 per cent of our grid infrastructure. But this was a line tripping in certain quarters in the country; even the major centres were not affected, talk of Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan. And this was even restored within two hours.
“Let me tell you, grid disturbances are global. We are talking about electrical connections. There could be tripping off due to weather, due to the dilapidation of some infrastructure. What matters most is what is your rate of response to fix this. We responded swiftly and within two hours, we brought it back and it’s working now. So, it’s no big deal,” he stated.
Recall it was reported on Tuesday that the that power grid collapsed again on Tuesday amid restoration efforts.
