Power Outage: Grid Collapse Causes Widespread Darkness

National Grid Fails, Nationwide Blackout Ensues

Nigeria experiences 5th grid collapse in 2024....

Nigeria's national grid collapses for the 5th time in 2024, causing widespread power outages. Despite efforts to improve grid stability, the country has experienced 20 system collapses since 2020.

Nigeria experienced a nationwide electricity blackout on Monday after the national grid collapsed, marking the fifth such incident this year.

The grid failure led to a simultaneous shutdown of various distribution companies' (DisCos) feeders, resulting in a comprehensive power outage across the country.

According to data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the grid collapse occurred at approximately 1:30 pm on Monday, causing a significant drop in power generation from 3,241 megawatts (MW) to 1,255MW within a single hour.

As of Monday night, the status of the national grid showed that out of 21 connected power plants, five generation companies (GenCos) were offline, while 17 were actively generating power. However, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had not yet provided an explanation for the grid collapse.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed the grid collapse on social media platform X, stating that it occurred in the afternoon, causing a widespread power outage.

“We understand that some of our customers are still without power due to a system failure from the national grid at 2.55pm today, 5th August 2024,” AEDC posted.

“Please be assured that the system is gradually stabilising, and we are working diligently with all relevant stakeholders to restore power to the affected areas as quickly as possible.”

The national grid has experienced a series of collapses in 2024, with the first incident occurring on February 4, followed by subsequent collapses on March 28, April 15, and July 6, marking the third and fourth instances, respectively.

Despite these recurring incidents, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported on May 1 that the frequency of system collapses had decreased significantly, indicating efforts to improve grid stability.

According to Mbah, Nigeria experienced 20 system collapses between 2020 and May 1, a significant reduction compared to the 85 grid disturbances recorded between 2015 and 2019.

In an effort to enhance grid stability, the commission announced on April 18 that it had introduced a digital system called Generation Dip/Loss Detection System (GLDS), designed to rapidly detect and respond to sudden drops in power generation, thereby minimizing the impact of grid disturbances.