Minister of Power: Fire Outbreak responsible for collapse of National Grid

The Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has blamed a fire outbreak on the Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2 as the cause of the collapse of the National Grid.

The Minister however said that the fire had been put out with efforts underway to correct the situation. He said “We are on top of the situation and speedy restoration is in progress. 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”. 

At 00:35Hrs this morning, Fire outbreak with 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

— Bayo Adelabu (@BayoAdelabu) September 14, 2023

The collapse of the national grid was first reported by the Enugu and Eko electricity distribution companies.

https://twitter.com/enugudisco/status/1702218712000909331?t=lDcsd_dNUStIbMO_TQ1lZg&s=19

POWER UPDATE pic.twitter.com/YYzBAjKA2b

— Eko Electricity Distribution Company (@EKEDP) September 14, 2023

The grid collapse which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, resulted in a massive loss of supply to power distributors nationwide. Around 12:40 a.m., the total power supply dropped to 273 megawatts, from the 4,182 Megawatts recorded on Monday. It got worse at 8:37am today, as there was zero megawatts in the electricity allocation to the Distribution Companies.

It is the first notable power grid collapse since the last one happened around September 2022. Just last month, the transmission company disclosed that the power grid has maintained uninterrupted stability for over 400 consecutive days.

However, some hours later, the Eko Disco announced the restoration of Power supply from the grid.

Dear Valued Customer,

Kindly be informed that power supply has been restored from the grid.

Thank you for your patience.#PowerUpdate #EKEDC #EmpoweringQualityOfLives

— Eko Electricity Distribution Company (@EKEDP) September 14, 2023