Grid collapse: Minister summons TCN, NERC

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has on the weekend summoned the leadership of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Transmission Company of Nigeria to an emergency meeting over worries at the disturbance on the national grid which threw some sections of the country into darkness twice within the week.

Adelabu conveyed displeasure at the incident, which he said, was capable of rubbishing the giant strides made in the last year which has led to an increased generation and distribution of 5, 527 megawatts, a record generation in three years.

This was disclosed in a statement on Monday by the Minister Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji.

The statement stated Adelabu also constituted a forensic investigation committee with a mandate to advise the government on necessary solutions to make the national grid robust and reliable in addition to the ongoing efforts of the government like the Presidential Power Initiatives and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project.

“The Committee is to also establish the root cause of both incidents especially a review of potential sabotage on the system.

The Committee will holistically review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient.

“In addition, a technical team has been deployed to access the critical nodes on the national grid to identify potential vulnerabilities and proffer recommendations to address these vulnerabilities to prevent future disruptions to the  grid.

“On Monday, October 14, there was a partial collapse  due to the  tripping of a line at the Jebba Transmission Substation and recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation. Efforts to restore the grid further resulted in a setback the following day. The System was however fully restored on Wednesday,  October 16, 2024. There was no grid collapse on Tuesday as was widely speculated as the setback was a continuation of Monday’s restoration efforts on the grid.

“Also what was described on  Saturday, October 19, as grid collapse was a deliberate protective shutdown of the grid as a result of the explosion of the Jebba transformer. And this was restored within two hours. What we had were more of grid disturbances than collapses,” the statement reads partly.

The statement stressed further that a preliminary assessment of Jebba incident suggested that the explosion was as a result of ageing equipment unrelated to the initial collapse.

It stated, “The six-member committee are; Engr. Nafisat Ali, Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO), who leads the committee, Dr. Chidi Ike, Commissioner, NERC, Engr. Ishola (GM. National Control Centre (NCC) , Engr. Emmanuel Nosike, Director, Transmission, Federal Ministry of Power (FMoP),   Engr. Ali Sharifai (GM, Transmission Service Provider (TSP) and Mr Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power.”

However, the team is expected to present a report to the Minister by November 1,  2024.