The Nigerian Government has said that Saturday’s national grid collapse was caused by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 08:15 am hours.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.
Saturday’s grid collapse made it the third time the system shut down in the last seven days.
Reacting, NERC noted that bulk power supply has been significantly restored as of 13:00 hours on Saturday in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission notes with concern the recent escalating incidence of grid disturbances often leading to marked outage in several states thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.
“Initial reports on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning indicate that today’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 0815hrs and an associated cascade of power plants shut down arising from the loss of load.
“However, efforts to restore supply have advanced with power significantly restored, as at 1300hrs, in 33 states and the
FCT.”
The Commission added that in line with the provisions of the Electricity Act 2023, the unbundling of System Operator out of the Transmission Company of Nigeria is ongoing