The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced on Tuesday that it is close to fully restoring the national grid following its collapse on Monday evening. According to a statement by Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s Public Affairs General Manager, the grid experienced a partial disturbance around 6:48 p.m. on October 14, 2024.
Mbah explained that the recovery process began immediately, with the Azura power station initiating the blackstart. By 10:24 a.m. on Tuesday, grid recovery had reached an advanced stage but encountered a setback that temporarily delayed the process. Despite this, TCN has managed to restore bulk power to around 90% of its substations across the country.
The partial disturbance did not affect the Ibom Gas generating station, which remained operational and continued to supply electricity to parts of the South-South region, including Eket, Ekim, Uyo, and Itu.
Mbah stated that a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse will be conducted once the grid is fully restored. This incident is one of several grid collapses Nigeria has experienced this year, following similar disruptions in February, March, April, July, and August.
Although TCN has not yet commented on the latest collapse, in April, Nafisat Ali, Executive Director of the Independent System Operator (ISO) department at TCN, provided various reasons for the frequent grid failures. She cited issues such as inadequate gas supply, poor coordination between power plants and gas pipelines, and limited generation capacity as contributing factors.
