TCN refutes national grid collapse, clarifies incident as line tripping
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has dismissed reports of a national grid collapse on Monday, clarifying that the incident was due to a line tripping at the Benin-Egbin 330kV isolator.
TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah, in a statement on Tuesday, explained that while the tripping did disrupt power supply in some areas, it did not result in a full grid collapse as some media outlets reported.
The incident occurred around 2:47 p.m. when a significant system surge caused arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator at the Egbin Transmission Substation.
The problem was resolved by 6:10 p.m., restoring power to the affected regions. Mbah stressed that the situation, although serious, did not lead to a nationwide blackout, countering earlier claims.
Despite the clarification, Nigeria’s electricity sector remains troubled by its fragile national grid, which has experienced multiple collapses this year, leading to frequent power disruptions across the country.
Recent reports indicated that various distribution companies (DisCos) saw their feeders become inactive, causing widespread blackouts.
Data from the TCN showed that the grid’s capacity dropped from 3,241 megawatts (MW) to 1,255MW within an hour during the incident.
While the federal government privatized power generation and 11 distribution companies in November 2013, retaining ownership of the transmission company, the grid has continued to struggle with stability despite efforts to improve the sector.
It should be recalled that some media outlets reported yesterday that the national grid collapsed, resulting in a nationwide blackout.
However, Mbah said the arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV did not result in the collapse of the grid system but did affect the power supply in some areas of the country.
He stated that the line tripping began around 2:47 p.m. yesterday, caused by a significant system surge that resulted in the arcing of the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
According to him, this issue has been resolved and power supply has been restored to the substation.
“The line tripping started earlier at about 2:47 p.m. yesterday, with a heavy system surge that led to the arcing of Benin–Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
“This resulted in a tripping at the Egbin Generating Station, which caused the loss of power supply to all the Egbin Transmission Substation’s outgoing lines.
“The line tripping was quickly rectified, enabling the grid controller to restore full bulk power supply through the transmission lines at about 6.10 pm yesterday,” he said.
In November 2013, the federal government privatized all power generation and 11 distribution companies, while retaining ownership of the transmission company.
However, since privatization, the grid has continued to collapse despite ongoing efforts to reposition the power sector.
