Nigeria Electric Power Generation Collapsed to 38MW

National power grid.

Data from the Federal Government on Tuesday indicated that the collapse of the national electricity grid that occurred the preceding day led to the crash in power generation from 3,713.1 megawatts to 38MW.

Industry figures obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power showed that power generation on the grid as at 6am on Monday was 3,713.1MW, but this plunged to 38MW around 10.51am.

The PUNCH had reported on Tuesday that Nigeria suffered another nationwide power outage on Monday morning after the national electricity grid collapsed for the seventh time in 2022.

Following the development, power consumer groups called for sanctions against operators or firms culpable of the incessant grid collapse that had characterised Nigeria’s electricity system since this year.

The report further stated that industry figures seen on Monday indicated that power generation on the grid had risen to a peak of 4,100.80 megawatts on Sunday. It dropped to 3,713.1MW at 6am on Monday.

But the latest data obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday showed that power generation on the national grid crashed to 38MW, which was the off-peak generation figure on Monday, while peak generation on the same day was put at 3,787.3MW.

Various power distribution companies confirmed Monday’s grid collapse, while the manager of the electricity grid – Transmission Company of Nigeria – said the crash was caused by a drop in system frequency.

Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc, for instance, while confirming the grid collapse on Monday, had stated that it occurred  at 10:51am.

“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network. Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide service to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states,” the Disco had stated via a Twitter message.

On its part, Federal Government’s electricity transmission company explained that the crash in power generation on the grid was caused by a drop in system frequency.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that the national grid experienced partial system disturbance at about 10.51am today, September 26, 2022,” the firm had stated in a statement issued in Abuja by its spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah.

The National Control Centre of TCN said a full-scale investigation was being conducted to establish and ascertain the cause of the disturbance as this unwholesome event had resulted in aggregated generation loss.

The President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, who served in the National Technical Investigative Panel on Power System Collapses/System Stability and Reliability (June 2013), Kunle Olubiyo, had told our correspondent that there should be sanctions to curtail the spate of grid collapse.

He stated that Monday’s “total system collapse is quite unfortunate and unnecessary.”

Olubiyo said, “The nation needs to do more in terms of upgrading obsolete grid infrastructure, grid automation, make more investments in grid system interfaces, protection devices and with emphasis on load frequency management scheme.

“There should also be sanctions and consequences for infractions associated with grid system indiscipline. The present total power grid collapse is no doubt at a huge cost to the end users, the economy, all spheres of human endeavors and the nation at large.”