TCN Restores Power After Sixth Grid Collapse
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced the restoration of power grid after sixth collapse this year.
TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah made the announcement in a statement issued on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 in Abuja.
TheFact Daily recalls that the grid collapse was first announced by the Management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) on Wednesday.
AEDC informed that the system collapsed at about 12:23pm Wednesday, 20 July 2022, causing the outage currently being experienced by the customers.
In the public notice the company said, “Dear Esteemed Customer, please be informed that the current power outage is due to a system failure from the National Grid. The system collapsed at about 12:23pm today, 20 July 2022, causing the outage currently being experienced.
“We appeal for your understanding as all stakeholders are working hard to restore normal supply. Thank You. AEDC Management”.
Power Experts said, system collapse is a term used to describe the situation when all the power generating stations connected to the grid shut down at the same time or immediately one after the other, leaving the entire area supplied by the grid in blackout.
They said, “when the load demand by the consumer has increased more than the available power in the system, this can cause a collapse of the system. By this, the power system is stressed more than its capacity and this is very dangerous for the system”.
Meanwhile, TCN attributed the current grid collapse to a sudden drop in system frequency from 49.94Hz to 47.36Hz, which created system instability.
The company explain that the reports obtained from the National Control Centre (NCC), said, it was precipitated by the tripping of a Unit (with a load of 106 MW) in one of the generating stations due to “Exhaust over Temperature”.
It said, “this unwholesome event, which pulled out other grid-connected Units in the plant, resulted in aggregated generation loss of 457MW. In its wake, a train of events ensued – culminating in the collapse of the national grid.
“As obtainable in all systems, when a component of the electric power system is defective, the entire configuration is vitiated. However, inspite of setbacks encountered at the initial stage, grid restoration had almost been completed as at 11:00pm when this report was filed”, it said.
While thanking its numerous customers across the power value chain, the company disclosed that a full-scale investigation was being conducted to establish the cause of the failure.
“The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry appreciates the kind understanding of Government and consumers of electricity within and outside the country.
“We are committed to leveraging the concerted interventions instituted thus far to enhance power supply reliability so that the issue of system collapse will soon become a thing of the past.
“Meanwhile, a full-scale investigation is being conducted to establish the cause of this failure”, the statement said.