The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has clarified that the national grid did not collapse on Monday, contrary to earlier reports. In a statement released on Tuesday, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, explained that the incident involved arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV isolator, which led to line tripping and a temporary loss of power supply in some areas around 2:47 p.m.
The affected regions included the Lagos axis, parts of the South West, parts of the North Central, and Abuja. However, other areas, such as the South Eastern region, North East, and other parts of North Central and South West, continued to have full power supply.
TCN reported that bulk power had been restored to the affected areas by around 6:10 p.m. on Monday, ensuring the resumption of normal electricity supply.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) hereby notes that at about 6:10 p.m. yesterday, 5th August 2024, power supply was restored to areas affected by the arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV isolator, which caused line tripping and a consequent loss of supply to some areas. However, contrary to media reports, the incident did not cause a system collapse.”
“The line tripping began earlier at about 2:47 p.m. yesterday, with a heavy system surge leading to the arcing of the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard. This caused tripping at the Egbin Generating Station, leading to the loss of power supply to all of the Egbin Transmission Substation’s outgoing lines.”
“This led to an exponential increase in load on the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line 1, with serious arcing of isolator terminals on the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line 1. To prevent the sequence of events from affecting the national grid, the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line was opened to temporarily cut off the flow of electricity on that line.”
“At about 2:56 p.m., the Benin-Egbin 330kV line 1 Circuit Breaker also tripped at the Benin Transmission Substation end, resulting in the loss of supply to the Lagos axis, parts of the South West Region, parts of the North Central, and Abuja. Meanwhile, other areas, including the South Eastern region, North East, and other parts of North Central and South West, had full power supply.”
“The line tripping was quickly rectified, enabling the grid controller to restore full bulk power supply through the transmission lines at about 6:10 p.m. yesterday,” TCN stated.
This is as a report from TCN stated that the country’s grid has collapsed 227 times from 2010 to April 2024.
