- Northern states covered by darkness as 330KV line goes off
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has summoned the leadership of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Transmission Company of Nigeria to an emergency meeting.
The summon became imperative following a series of disturbances on the national grid which threw some sections of the country into darkness twice within the last week.
A statement issued by the minister’s Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, in Abuja on Tuesday, quoted him to have expressed displeasure at the incident.
To tackle the challenges, the minister has constituted a forensic investigation committee with a mandate to advise the government on necessary solutions to make the national grid robust and reliable in addition to the ongoing efforts of the government like the Presidential Power Initiatives and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project.
Members of the six-member committee are Nafisat Ali, Executive Director, Independent System Operator, who leads the committee, Chidi Ike, Commissioner, NERC, Ishola (GM. National Control Centre, Emmanuel Nosike, Director, Transmission, Federal Ministry of Power, Ali Sharifai (GM, Transmission Service Provider and Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power.
The team is expected to present a report to the Minister by November 1, 2024.
According to the minister, the committee is to also establish the root cause of both incidents, especially a review of potential sabotage on the system.
It is expected to holistically review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient.
The statement recalled that on Monday, October 14, there was a partial collapse due to the tripping of a line at the Jebba Transmission Substation and a recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation.
“Efforts to restore the grid further resulted in a setback the following day. The System was however fully restored on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. There was no grid collapse on Tuesday as was widely speculated as the setback was a continuation of Monday’s restoration efforts on the grid.
“Also, what was described on Saturday, October 19, as grid collapse was a deliberate protective shutdown of the grid as a result of the explosion of the Jebba transformer. And this was restored within two hours.
“What we had were more of grid disturbances than collapses Preliminary assessment of the Jebba incident suggested that the explosion was a result of ageing equipment unrelated to the initial collapse,” the statement added.
Northern states covered by darkness as 330KV line goes off
In a related development, major parts of Northern Nigeria, including the North East, North West, and segments of the North Central region, have experienced a major power outage following the shutdown of the 330kV Ugwuaji–Apir Double Circuit transmission lines.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria disclosed the occurrence in a statement by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, on Tuesday.
He explained that the outage occurred after both circuits of the Ugwuaji–Apir transmission lines tripped due to a fault, resulting in widespread blackout across various regions.
The company explained that the first line, Ugwuaji–Makurdi 330kV Line 2, tripped at about 4:53 a.m., transferring 243 MW of power to Line 1. However, just five minutes later, at 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also failed, resulting in a total power loss of 468 MW.
Attempts to restore the lines at 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. were unsuccessful, as both tripped again.
Following the outage, TCN dispatched two teams of engineers to trace the fault along the 215-kilometer route with 245 transmission towers.
The statement said one team began inspections from the Apir Transmission Sub-region, while another started from the Enugu transmission zone.
However, it added that the Enugu team experienced delays due to a “sit-at-home” directive in the South East, which also complicated efforts to refuel patrol vehicles for the journey.
The statement reads in part, “Though TCN managed to restore power along the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, the critical 330kV lines remain down, affecting electricity supply across Northern Nigeria. Additionally, the Shiroro-Mando transmission line is still out of service due to security concerns, further worsening the power crisis in the region.”
The company assured the public that it was working tirelessly to trace the fault and repair the damaged lines.
It apologized to the affected states and electricity consumers, acknowledging that the difficult terrain—comprising forests, swamps, and rivers—has slowed down progress.
