Though used to epileptic power supply, Nigerians were still alarmed and frustrated when they woke up, Thursday, to the news of a system collapse on the national grid.
Not again! Most citizens lamented loudly, at a great loss as to what may have plunged the nation into total darkness.
Though power has been restored in limited parts, Nigerians still desperately sought answer to that important question on Thursday.
But in a series of tweets, the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, struggled to tell Nigerians why it happened, disclosing that a loud explosion on the Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2 caused the nationwide blackout.
“At 00:35Hrs this morning,” Adelabu explained, “Fire outbreak with explosion sound was observed on Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2 (Cct K2J) blue phase CVT & Blue phase line Isolator of Kainji/Jebba 330kV line1 was observed burning. This led to sharp drops in frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67 Hz at 0:35:06Hrs with Jebba generation loss of 356.63MW.”
But he also assured that the problem would be speedily solved.
“We are on top of the situation and speedy restoration is in progress,” he declared. “The fire has been fully arrested and over half of the connections are now up and the rest will be fully restored in no time. My sincere appreciation to those who responded or expressed concern via different.”
Reports in the mainstream media, especially Vanguard, had earlier in the day that the nation’s power supply had dangerously dropped by 93.5 per cent to 273 megawatts, MW in the early hours Thursday.
It crashed from the 4,182MW recorded on Monday, September 11, 2023, sequel to a total system collapse occasioned by either equipment failure or grid disturbance.
Vanguard particularly reported from the data it obtained from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator, the semi-autonomous arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, showed that Afam VI, Dadinkowa, Ibom Power, Jebba, Olorunsogo generated 0.70MW, 0.00MW, 32.90MW, 240MW and zero respectively.
Following the embarrassing situation, the Electricity Distribution Companies, DisCos, Thursday, apologised to their customers, promising to restore supply when the situation improves.
