Power Grid Collapses, Plunges Lagos, Others Into Darkness

The nation’s power grid suffered its first collapse this year on Wednesday, plunging parts of the country into a blackout.

Two of the electricity distribution companies in the country, Ikeja Electric Plc and Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc, disclosed this in messages to their customers through their Twitter handles on Wednesday.

It said, “This is to inform you that we experienced a system collapse at 13:58hrs today and this affected all customers on the IE network. However, we are pleased to confirm that supply has been restored to Alimosho, Ogba, and Alausa transmission stations at 14:47hrs.

“Please note that gradual restoration to other areas is currently ongoing. Thank you for your understanding.”

EKEDC said, “There has been a partial system collapse on the national grid interrupting supply to most areas within our network. We are gathering updates on the situation and will provide them as available.

“For now, please be assured that all stakeholders are working hard to make sure this is resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”

The grid, which is being managed by government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria, has continued to suffer system collapse over the years amid a lack of spinning reserve that is meant to forestall such occurrences.

Spinning reserve is the generation capacity that is online but unloaded and that can respond within 10 minutes to compensate for generation or transmission outages.

Although five power stations are meant to provide spinning reserves, none of them currently have actual reserve.

The power stations are Egbin, Delta, Olorunsogo NIPP, Geregu NIPP and Omotosho NIPP.

Total power generation in the country stood at 4,499.90 megawatts as of 6 am on Wednesday, according to the Nigerian Electricity System Operator.

The system operator put the nation’s installed generation capacity at 12,954.40MW; available capacity at 7,652.60MW; transmission wheeling capacity at 7,300MW; and the peak generation ever attained at 5520.4MW.

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