Reason Why National Grid Collapsed —Power Minister

The Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has disclosed what led to the collapse of the national grid in the early hours of Thursday, September 14, 2023, resulting in a power outage.

He said there was a fire outbreak at the Kainji/Jebba line, that led to a sharp drop in the frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67 Hz at 0:35:06 hrs. These stations are the key player in the power supply chain,

Adelabu said, “At 00:35Hrs this morning, a fire outbreak with an 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. Kainji started dropping load from 451.45 MW at 00:35:07Hrs to zero.

“At 00:41Hrs frequency dropped further from 49.37 Hz to 48.41 Hz resulting in system collapse of the grid. We are on top of the situation and speedy restoration is in progress.”

Adelabu however noted that the outbreak has been taken care of, while noting that the delay in addressing the grid collapse was deliberate.

He said, “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 channels and the team of Engineers for their prompt response to the situation and the work done so far.

“Let’s get the restoration work completed as soon as possible. The delay in the update was deliberate, so as not to cause panic and to also be able to update on the progress of remedial actions taken so far. This is to ensure economic and security saboteurs don’t take advantage of every situation reported.”

Also, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) revealed the gradual recovery of the grid across the country as the fire was contained.