Power generation on the national grid crashed to zero megawatts around 1 pm on Sunday as the country’s grid witnessed a nationwide collapse.
Data obtained from the power ministry showed that electricity generation on the grid dropped from 2,407MW around 11.53 am to 31MW by noon on Sunday, before collapsing to 0MW an hour later.
This led to widespread blackouts across the country, as power distribution companies blamed it on the collapse of the grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Government.
Kaduna Disco, for instance, confirmed that the loss of bulk power supply left Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi States in darkness on Sunday.
Figures from the TCN showed that all 20 power plants, except Ibom Power with 31 megawatts, were offline by 11:51 am on Sunday.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company announced on Sunday that the collapse occurred at around 11 a.m.
“The Management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) wishes to inform its valued customers that the power outage being experienced is 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,” the company said.
“Be rest assured that we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilized. We appeal for your patience,” it said.
The latest collapse occurred less than two months after the national grid system collapsed in December and Nigerians were thrown into darkness.
In recent years, Nigeria’s power sector has experienced broad challenges such as electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and major power sector planning shortfalls.
Last Friday, the Federal Government attributed the main cause of poor power supply in the country to the low supply of gas to generating companies.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who disclosed this in a statement, said “Power supply during the yuletide improved, but unfortunately, we’ve experienced setbacks in the new year. After investigations, it’s clear that the main cause of poor power supply is the low supply of gas to GenCos.”
The Transmission Company of Nigeria had in January said that there was a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid due to gas constraints.
The company said this impacted the quantum of bulk power available on the transmission grid for onward transmission to the distribution load centres nationwide.
“Figures from the TCN showed that all 20 power plants, except Ibom Power with 31 megawatts, were offline by 11:51 am on Sunday.”
On December 12, 2023, Nigeria witnessed a system collapse of its national grid, leading to a crash in power generation from 4,032.8MW to 43.5MW the preceding day.
Power generation figures obtained from TCN at the time showed that electricity on the system moved up to 115.4MW around 3 pm on December 11, 2023, before rising further to 240.9MW at about 4 pm.
It climbed to 544.9MW at 5 pm and continued the upward trend, as TCN strived to restore the nation.
Commenting on the development at the time, the spokesperson of the transmission company, Ndidi Mbah, confirmed the collapse of the grid but was quick to state that the system was restored by TCN engineers.
“The grid experienced a collapse today (Monday). Presently, it (supply) has been restored except for the Jos axis, which will soon have supply within the hour. The collapse happened by 13.49 pm this afternoon. It is now fully restored by 18.51 pm,” she had stated.
Nigeria’s power grid witnessed a series of collapses in September last year, as power consumers lambasted the managers of the system for the incessant crash of the grid.
On September 20, 2023, Nigeria witnessed another round of widespread blackouts across the country the preceding day as the national power grid collapsed again, making it the third grid collapse in about five days during that period.
This is despite the privatisation of the successor generation and transmission arms of the power sector in November 2013 by the Federal Government.
The TCN said last month that the poor power supply being experienced by electricity consumers nationwide was caused by a shortage of gas.
The TCN in a statement affirmed that there had been a gradual decrease in available power generation into the grid due to gas constraints to the power generating companies.
This, the TCN said, has impacted the quantum of bulk power available on the grid for onward transmission to electricity distribution companies nationwide.
Distribution companies have continued to speak up, saying they were not to blame as they also receive limited allocation from generating companies.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the poor power supply was caused by a gas shortage.
Just like the DisCos, the TCN disclosed that the load distributed to the distribution load centres had reduced, saying it can only transmit what is generated.
