Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has attributed the recent collapse of the national grid (Kainji-Jebba) 330 kilovolt (kV) line, to a fire outbreak.
Adelabu made this disclosure in a series of posts on Twitter, on Thursday, saying the fire led to a loss of about 356.63 MW.
Giving updates, the minister said the fire has been fully arrested, and with over half of the connections restored.
He said; “At 00:35Hrs this morning, a 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 line 1 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 48.41Hz then resulted in system collapse of the grid.
“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.
“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 work done so far. Let’s get the restoration work completed as soon as possible.
“Delay in update was deliberate, so as not to cause panic and to also be able to update on progress of remedial actions taken so far. This is to ensure economic and security saboteurs don’t take advantage of every situation reported.”
Earlier, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed the collapse of the national grid but assured that efforts are in top gear to fix the problem.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, hereby notes that grid restoration nationwide is in progress and has reached advanced stages with power supply now available in the West, North Central, South, ensuring its stability,” the agency’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah said.
