TCN clears air on national grid collapse, says power generation dropped by 18.76%

Amid reports of another collapse of the national grid for the fifth time in 2022, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has clarified that power generation only dropped by 18.76 per cent at the various generating plants, last Sunday.

Electricity supply collapsed across the country with distribution companies in some zones issuing statements apologizing to customers for the power outage.

The national grid collapsed in early April, this year, over what the Ministry of Power had blamed on activities of vandals who sabotaged the tower on the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission line thus resulting in a sudden loss of about 400MW of generation.

That April incident was the third collapse of the national grid recorded in less than three weeks after two earlier incidents on March 14 and 15, this year.

A fourth incident occurred in May, which was considered minor compared to the three earlier incidents.

However, clarifying on the latest collapse, the TCN, in a statement, Monday, said the combined national power output recorded a huge drop in electricity generation and supply on Sunday, falling by 18.76% to 68,856.37MWh of generated power as against 84,757.11MWh recorded in the previous day.

Similarly, the energy supply dipped significantly by 18.84% to 67,790MWh on Sunday, 12th June 2022 compared to 83,524.39MWh sent out by the generating companies on Saturday.

Meanwhile, energy generation peaked at 3,703MW on Sunday, while off-peak was 9MW. Notably, 98.45% of the generated energy in the day under review was sent out to Distributing Companies.

Highlights for Sunday 12th June; Peak generation – 3,703MW (+0.48%);Off-peak generation – 9MW (-99.73%); Energy generated – 68,856.37MWh (-18.76%); Energy sent out – 67,790.1MWh (-18.84%).

The highest frequency for the day was 51.17Hz, while the lowest frequency was 48.4Hz.

The collapse was confirmed by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) Plc and uts counterpart, the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC) in separate messages.

Prior to the incident, the quantum of power on the grid as at 6am on Sunday was 3,628.6 megawatts, but it was gathered that this crashed significantly in the evening leading to the eventual grid collapse.

Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company said in its statement titled; “Power Outage In Our Franchise Due To Grid Collapse: “Dear esteemed customers, we regret to inform you that the power outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to system collapse of the national grid.

“The collapse occured at about 18:47pm this evening hence the loss of supply on all our outgoing feeders. Power supply shall be restored as soon as the national grid is powered back.

Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience.”

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc also disclosed that the grid collapse threw five states under the Disco’s franchise area in total blackout.

Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Emeka Ezeh said: “The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc wishes to inform her esteemed customers of a system collapse which occurred at 6.49pm this evening, Sunday, June 12, 2022.

“As a result of this development, all our outgoing feeders are out and this has affected supply to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.

“We are on standby, awaiting further information on restoration of supply from the National Control Centre. Thank you.”

However, supply to the South West and South South regions appear not have been affected y the power outage, as the DisCos did not report any drop.