The national grid has collapsed again
A few days after Adebayo Adelabu stated that the incessant collapse of the national grid was inevitable, the national grid collapsed again. At 8:00am this morning, Nigerians were plunged into darkness for the third time this week.
Why did the grid collapse?
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has stated that the grid collapse was caused by a transformer explosion. In the statement they released on social media, The NERC said they “Note with concern the recent escalating incidence of grid disturbances often leading to marked outage in several states thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.”
The statement stated that “Initial reports on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning indicate that today’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 0815hrs and an associated cascade of power plants shut down arising from the loss of load.”
The commission mentioned that efforts to revive the grid are ongoing “with power significantly restored, as at 1300hrs, in 33 states and the FCT. In line with the provisions of the Electricity Act 2023, the unbundling of the System Operator function (ISO) out of Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc is ongoing with the expectation that an independent System Operator would engender more discipline in grid management and optimised investment in infrastructure.”
In a bid to find a permanent resolution to the frequent collapse of the national grid, the commission mentioned conducting a public hearing to identify all probable causes of grid disturbances and constant blackouts. They ended by assuring Nigerians that the date and venue of the public hearing would be announced shortly and urged stakeholders to participate.
How do Nigerians feel about this?
Although many Nigerians have resigned to fate, some have refused to let the disruption of their weekend plans go without giving a piece of their mind:
@rukky_nate
The tragic thing about the recurring collapse of the national grid is that: NO ONE will lose their jobs. And you know why?
The Nigerian government as a system rewards mediocrity, and frowns upon competence.
Nigeria is something out of George Orwell’s 1984 dystopian book.
@themmanuelfaith
I woke up with all the energy to work and tick off some personal to-do, only for the National grid to say; For here?
Even the national grid itself was not left behind. An account on X with the username @NationalGridNg had this to say:
WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?
We need to achieve a reliable system.
This system must have an adequate amount of capacity (generation, demand response and network capacity) to meet consumer needs.
There needs to be adequate investment in all types of capacity, as well as appropriate operational decisions so that supply and demand are in balance at any point in time.
To achieve a reliable power system, it is necessary to include a buffer in the supply and demand balance, known as reserves. This allows the actual demand and supply to be kept in balance, even in the face of shocks to the system.
The target must be to achieve AT LEAST 40,000 MW Generated, Transmitted and Distributed Electricity. No IFS, No BUTS
In a nutshell, only purposeful leadership with political willpower with citizen participation can get this done effectively.
It appears that the national grid is exonerating itself and putting the blame where it belongs. @chibzyyyy expressed the opinion of many other X users when she tweeted:
National Grid get Twitter acc
This country na Comedy Central
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