The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Saturday, announced that the national power grid suffered a temporary disturbance, leading to a nationwide power outage. According to the TCN, the disturbance occurred at around 8:15 a.m., with widespread power outages felt across the country.
The TCN explained that the issue was caused by an explosion at the 330kV Jebba Transmission Substation, located in North-Central Nigeria. In a report from the National Control Centre (NCC), it was revealed that a current transformer at the substation exploded.
The company noted that the protection system activated immediately to contain the situation and prevent further damage to surrounding equipment.
“The bus section of a current transformer exploded at 330kV Jebba Transmission Substation,” TCN stated, explaining that the protection system automatically opened the busbars to stop the explosion from spreading, preventing fire and other damage.
TCN also assured the public that its engineers acted swiftly to resolve the issue. According to their statement, the faulty current transformer was isolated, and the busbar arrangement was reconfigured, allowing for the restoration of power supply.
“Our engineers at Jebba have successfully carried out switchings, isolating the faulty current transformer,” TCN said, adding that power had been restored to parts of the national grid.
At 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, TCN’s latest data showed that the grid’s power supply had recovered to 496.20 megawatts (MW). Before the incident, the grid supply stood at 3,041.72 MW as of 8:00 a.m., but it dropped significantly to 47 MW by 9:00 a.m., leaving only the Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant (IPP) operational.
This outage marked the third grid collapse in seven days, and the eighth so far this year. The national grid, via its official social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), confirmed that seven out of the country’s eleven electricity distribution companies (DisCos) had no load allocation during the incident.
Benin, Ibadan, Ikeja, and Eko DisCos were the only ones with minimal supply at the time of the blackout. Benin DisCo had 70 MW, Ibadan DisCo 60 MW, Ikeja DisCo 30 MW, and Eko DisCo 20 MW, as of 10:16 a.m.
Further complicating the situation, TCN had earlier reported the vandalism of two transmission towers along the 330kV Shiroro-Kaduna transmission lines. This damage affected the stability of the grid. The TCN stated that the two towers, numbered T133 and T136, were badly damaged, with their cables cut at several points. Local vigilantes were deployed to patrol the area, and efforts to fix the towers are ongoing.
