Eko Hot Blog reports that the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has explained reasons for the total system collapse of the national grid.
In a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday, Adelabu said the grid’s collapse was caused by a fire outbreak on the Kainji/Jebba 330 kilovolt (kV) line.
Recall that the national grid suffered a total system collapse earlier on Thursday, marking the first in more than a year.
In an update, Adelabu said the fire had been fully arrested “and over half of the connections are now up and the rest will be fully restored in no time.”
The power minister explained that the delay in providing an update was deliberate to avoid causing panic and prevent economic and security saboteurs from taking advantage of every situation reported.
“At 00:35Hrs this morning, 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 line1 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,” he said.
At 00:35Hrs this morning, 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 line1 was observed burning. This led to sharp drops in frequency from 50.29Hz to 49.67 Hz at 0:35:06Hrs
“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.