National Grid Collapses 9th Time In 10 Months

The National grid has suffered yet another collapse, plunging the country into another round of darkness.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed the development, but stated that the national grid experienced a partial disturbance not total collapse.

LEADERSHIP checks showed that power generated dropped to 61.60 megawatts (MW) as at 2:00 pm yesterday. By 3:00pm it dropped further to 58.00MW then picked up slightly to 360.30MW by 4:00pm. However, by 5:00 pm it fell to 85.00MW; then up to 147.10MW by 6:00pm and down to 51.00MW by 7:00 pm.

The latest collapse of the grid occurred at about 1:52 pm today.

This is coming a few days after the TCN restored power supply to states in the northern part of the country.

Residents in northern Nigeria faced a total blackout from October 22, 2024, affecting 17 states. The power outage, caused by a malfunction in the transmission lines and vandalism.

The grid suffered multiple collapses in the month of October, with the federal government promising a permanent solution to the embarrassment.

This year alone, the national grid has collapsed nine times leading to widespread blackouts across the country.

Previous collapses happened on February 4, March 28, April 15, July 6, August 5, and three times in October (14th, 15th, and 19th). The frequent failures are attributed to aging infrastructure and ongoing system disturbances

As of 2:35 pm, hourly generation readings showed that none of the Power Generation Company had a single megawatt.

According to TCN, the latest collapse “followed a series of lines and generator trippings that caused instability of the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system. The data from the National Control Centre (NCC) revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption.

“TCN engineers are already working to quickly restore bulk power supply to the states affected by the partial disturbance. Presently, bulk power supply has been restored to Abuja, at 2.49pm, and we are gradually restoring to other parts of the country.

“We sincerely apologise for every inconvenience this may cause our electricity customers,” TCN general manager, public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, stated.

Ikeja Electric in its verified “X” account monitored by LEADERSHIP, said it is experiencing a system outage since 13.53 hrs on Tuesday November 5.

However the incident happened around 2:09 pm, according to the official X handle of the National Nigeria Grid.

The nation’s power grid witnessed a series of collapses last month.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) has also informed its customers “of a general system collapse that occurred at 13:52 hours today, 5th November 2024. This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the EEDC network.”

Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Emeka Ezeh, signed the notice Tuesday afternoon.

He said, “Consequently, due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Imo States.

“We are on standby awaiting detailed information about the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo.”