FG Identifies ‘Main Cause’ Of National Grid Collapse

The Federal Government has disclosed that a deficient maintenance culture and outdated and insufficient equipment are significant factors contributing to the frequent collapses of the national power grid observed in recent months.

Naijaonpoint reports that the government’s claim comes a day after the most recent collapse, marking the tenth occurrence of national grid failure in 2024 alone.

Nafisatu Asabe Ali, the Chairperson of the investigative committee examining the causes of the grid failures while presenting a report yesterday at Ministry headquarters in Abuja, noted that the excessive voltage of electricity exceeding the equipment’s capacity was responsible for the blackouts experienced on October 14 and 19, 2024.

According to her, the investigative team identified similar issues and challenges affecting all stations during their inquiry.

She indicated that the team investigated the grid collapse incidents on October 14 and 19, discovering that the failure of lightning arrestors at the Jebba and Oshogbo transmission stations, as well as an explosion of a current transformer at Jebba Station, were the causes of both events.

Ali said: “For the event on the 14th, lightning arrestors in Jebba and Oshogbo shattered. The one in Jebba was for the shunt reactor and this was caused by high voltage. Subsequently, we had the tripping of multiple 330kV lines. It kept going until it became major.

“The remote cause of that is the unavailability of the second reactor in Jebba, and that is because Jebba, by the design of the network and sometimes the topology of the network at a particular time is very prone to high voltage.

“We had two shunt reactors in Jebba before this event, however, one packed up. It is faulty, and so the voltage rose to about 400KV, which is beyond the threshold. High voltage degrades equipment insulation.

“If you expose equipment to high voltages for a long time, it degrades the insulation. And, of course, there’s a risk of failure. So, that was a remote cause for that. But the underlying causes are aged equipment. In our findings, we confirmed that Jebba was commissioned in 1968. Some of the equipment was commissioned alongside the substation. So, aged equipment. And maintenance culture is also an issue.”

The committee identified several factors impacting management, including vandalism of power infrastructure, insufficient availability of governors at power generation facilities, disorganized maintenance schedules, and inadequate human resources.

In response, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, indicated that the ministry would seek additional funding from the 2024 Supplementary Budget and the 2025 Appropriation Bill to address the financial challenges associated with the necessary strategies to mitigate the ongoing grid failures.

He expressed confidence that the recurrent failures of the Nigerian power grid could be addressed through the implementation of comprehensive reforms, noting, “this ongoing grid collapse, which is regrettable and concerning to me personally as the Honorable Minister of Power responsible for this sector.”

Adelabu further stated that he would submit a revised report to support his proposal to President Bola Tinubu, considering the financial implications involved.

He said, “Today’s meeting is to receive a report on the agency committee set up about two and a half weeks ago, to reveal the root cause of the incessant grid disturbances that we have experienced in the past few months. This is not good for us as a country. It is not good for us as a power sector. It is not good for us as a ministry of power and other agencies.”

The committee also listed recommendations for the audit and tests of existing equipment and improvement in maintenance of the transmission equipment and lines, installation of harmonics filters by Disco and Genco customers, decentralization of TCN central store, enforcement of Free Governor Mode of Operation and removal of ad-lash taped optic fibre for Optical Ground Wires.