The Federal Ministry of Power, late Saturday, revealed that the cause of the blackouts in many parts of the country was due to acts of vandalism which affected a transmission tower on the Odukpani Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission.
It said as a result, a sudden loss of about 400MW of generation occured which led to a cascade of plant shut down across the country.
A statement from the ministry stated: “Further to our earlier press release, we wish to apprise the general public that the immediate cause of national blackout (system collapse) was an act of vandalism on a transmission tower on the Odukpani Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission line thus resulting in a sudden loss of about 400MW of generation. This consequently led to a cascade of plant shut down across the country.
“We wish to notify the public that power on the grid is being restored sequentially by the System Operator as other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity from the Calabar power plant owned by the Niger Power Holding Company Ltd.”
Blackouts had hit many states of the Federation, following systems collapse confirmed to have occured Friday.
But the Federal Ministry of power, in a early statement Saturday said it is already investigating the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failure through the apex power sector regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
It further said in the statement that the process of restoring supply is ongoing with some sections of the national grid already energised and supply restored to consumers.
However, it assured “Nigerians that the Federal Government is working assiduously to deliver on the much-needed reforms and investments, including SCADA, that are critical to improving the capacity and reliability of the national grid.”
The blackouts cut across Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States after the national grid collapsed on Friday evening.
At least three Distribution Companies (DISCOs) confirmed the development via their respective social media handles, informing their customers of the situation in their respective domains.
They include Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC), and Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
While their various updates, they blamed the outage being experienced by consumers in various states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on a general system collapse that occurred at about 6:30pm and 8:50pm.
“Dear Esteemed Customers, we regret to inform you that a system collapse occurred on the National Grid at 6:30pm, Friday, April 8, 2022,” EKEDC said in a tweet. “Our partners are assessing the extent of the damage to the National Grid and how soon it will be restored, more information will be provided soon.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers and we assure you that we are working on a swift resolution.”
AEDC, on its part, sought the understanding of its customers with an assurance that the relevant stakeholders were working to bring the situation under control.
In its update to consumers in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States, KEDCO apologised for any inconveniences the outage might have caused.
“We write to inform our numerous customers in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States that the current power outage is due to a system collapse on the National Grid.
“Which as a result causes the current power outage on our network. We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences this may cause to our customers,” it tweeted.
News6 days ago
News1 week ago
Business News1 week ago