We are working on restoring national grid – TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it is working on restoring the national grid, which was shut down following an industrial action by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as well as their affiliate associations.

The shutdown has resulted in a nationwide blackout.

TCN spokesman, Ndidi Mbah, in a statement on Monday, said the national grid shutdown occurred at 2:19 a.m. same day, adding: “We will continue to make efforts to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.”

READ ALSO: Blackout as TCN workers shut down national grid over strike

He added that at 1:15 a.m., the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room.

According to him, the staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of being forced out of the control room. Without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.

Mbah disclosed that other transmission substations shut down by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo Transmission Substations.

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“Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union,” he stated.

On the power generating side, he said the power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants.

According to him, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down due to very high frequency.

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“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 a.m.,” Mbah said.

“At about 3:23 a.m., however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.”

Mbah also said that the Labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.