National Darkness
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National darkness descends on Nigeria after power grid collapses following suspicious fire on a major transmission line
A fire on a major power transmission line in Nigeria caused a “total collapse” of the grid system and resulted in widespread blackouts across the West African country on Thursday, authorities reported.
Nigeria’s Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu, said the fire caused an explosion on a transmission line connecting the Kainji and Jebba power plants in north-central Niger state.
Power generation at Kainji dropped to zero and eventually led to a system collapse, the minister explained in a statement.
An employee of the Afam VI power plant walks past the electrical facility of the plant in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. © FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR / AFP
“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,” Adelabu added.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) that power restoration had reached “advanced stages” despite challenges encountered during the process.
The company announced that electricity was now available in the “West, North Central, and South” of the country.
Though Nigeria is a significant oil and gas producer, the electricity supply in Africa’s largest economy is said to be inconsistent. At least four grid outages were recorded in 2022, which authorities blamed on technical issues.
The TCN stated, nontheless, on Thursday that it had successfully maintained a stable grid since its last breakdown in July of the previous year even in the face of challenges such as zero spinning reserve and insufficient systems.
“TCN had been able to maintain 421 days of grid stability because it developed and deployed in-house stop gap measures and tools that it has continued to use to manage the (sic) nations grid,” it stated.
Source Reuters/X/RT
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