- Power generation fell to zero in the early hours of today but had risen to 1,341 megawatts.
- Nigeria has 12,500 MW of installed capacity but produces about a quarter of that.
Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies reported a total system collapse on Thursday after a fire on a major transmission line. This caused widespread blackouts across the country before power was slowly restored. In a statement, the minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, said a fire had caused an explosion on a transmission line connecting the Kainji and Jebba power plants in Niger state, tripping the grid. He said, “The fire has been fully arrested, over half of the connections are now up, and the rest will be fully restored in no time.”
Data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed that power generation fell to zero in the early hours of today but had risen to 1,341 megawatts (MW) by 1400 GMT, which is way below the daily average of 4,100 MW. Nigeria has 12,500 MW of installed capacity but produces about a quarter of that.
Data from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator, an arm of Nigeria’s state-owned utility Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), shows that the Afam VI and Ibom Power power plants generated just 0.7MW and 32.9MW, respectively, in the morning. In contrast, the Olorunsogo power station generated no electrical output. The Jebba and Dadin Kowa hydroelectric plants generated 240MW and 0MW of electricity, respectively.
Nigeria has experienced grid instability several times in recent years. In 2022, the national grid collapsed at least four times, which authorities blamed on technological issues.