Nigeria’s Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has instituted an investigative team to examine the grid collapses that occurred earlier this week, causing blackouts across the country.
The Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, while addressing a press conference in Abuja, said the grid collapse was as a result of the trip off on the 330KVA power line in Benin, Edo State capital.
According to him, the development, led to the loss of 414 megawatts of electricity.
He disclosed that gas pipelines were also vandalized.
“We just finished the meeting with the system operators, and some Gencos because we are concerned because the regulators can’t sleep over the development, not to talk of the two consistent collapses within maybe 24 to 36 hours.
“We engaged with the system operators and the Gencos on the causes, the first collapse we had started because of the trip on the 330 KV line in the Benin axis of the network and it was caused by the conductor’s snap. Currently, there is an investigative team that has been set up and the commission (NERC) is currently awaiting the final report.
“So, the cause is on the snap on the 330 KV lines, which cascaded into the loss of 414megawatts from the Ugelli power plant. And when you have such an event, where you lose 414MW immediately, we are constrained to have generation availability, so that could cause imbalances in the system and that can cascade into a total collapse.
“So, the team is currently working to unravel both the remote and the immediate cause of the event. The commission is expecting the report from the TCN in line with the grid code,’’ he said.
The Government is working with the relevant security agencies to stop vandalization of pipelines, thereby soliciting the support of all Nigerians in its efforts to increase and stabilize electricity supply across Nigeria.
Confidence Okwuchi
