By Aliyu Galadima
Transmission Company of Nigeria ,TCN, has carried out a maintenance exercise on the Benin Abuja transmission substations . TCN had earlier in the morning announced that there will be a 3-hour blackout in regions covered by Abuja and Benin distribution companies ,DisCos, due to a planned maintenance exercise at the Ajaokuta 330/132kV transmission substation.
The spokesperson of TCN, Ndidi Mbah, made this disclosure in a statement on Friday, July 12, 2024.
Ndidi stated that its officials will conduct the scheduled annual preventive maintenance on the 132kV Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Okenne-Okpella1 line switchgears at the Ajaokuta 330/132kV Transmission Substation on Friday, July 12, 2024, from 10:am to 1:pm.
Accordingly, she noted that both Abuja and Benin Distribution Companies ,DisCos, will be unable to offtake bulk power from the substations.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria ,TCN, wishes to inform the public that its maintenance crew will carry out a scheduled annual preventive maintenance on its 132kV Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Okenne-Okpella 1-line switchgear at its Ajaokuta 330/132kV Transmission Substation today, Friday, July 12, 2024, from 10: am to 1:pm.
“As a result, both Abuja and Benin Distribution Companies will not be able to offtake bulk power from TCN’s OKENNE, OKPELLA and ITAKPE Transmission Substations for three (3) hours only on the stated day.
“TCN will restore bulk electricity supply to the DisCos immediately after the maintenance is completed”, the statement read.
TCN confirmed the partial disturbance on the national grid was caused by an unexpected tripping of three (3) units of a power generating station, which suddenly removed 313MW from the grid.
TCN explained that the tripping led to system instability and a partial collapse of the grid, causing blackouts across certain regions in the country.
Meanwhile, TCN said it has restored the grid, making it the fourth time in 2024 that the national grid collapsed.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, hereby states that there was a partial disturbance of the grid at about 15.09 hours recently .
“The system disturbance, which brings to three, the partial grid disturbances, with one total disturbance this year, is suspected to have been triggered by the unexpected tripping of three (3) units of a power generating station, which suddenly removed 313MW from the grid, causing system instability that led to the loss of bulk supply to a section of the national grid.
“Also, the operators commenced grid restoration efforts immediately after the incident. At about 21.57 hours yesterday, the entire part of the grid that was affected by yesterday’s incident was successfully restored”, TCN said.
Nigeria’s electricity sector continues to grapple with the challenges of a fragile national grid, usually leading to nationwide blackouts every other time.
As of June 2024, the grid has experienced a collapse four different times.
This contributed significantly to electricity disruption across the country, with businesses having to rely on self-servicing generators to run their activities.
Recall that in November 2013, the Federal Government privatised all power generation and 11 distribution companies, with the FG retaining the ownership of the transmission company. This was to improve efficiency in the sector.
However, since privatisation, the grid has continued to collapse amid efforts to reposition the power sector.
