National grid glitch triggers power disruption across Lagos

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has confirmed a major disruption in electricity supply affecting the Lagos power network following a voltage instability on the national grid on Thursday morning.

According to the company, the incident occurred at about 8:19 a.m. when a sudden voltage fluctuation developed within the national grid system and quickly spread across the Lagos corridor.

TCN explained that the disturbance resulted in the shutdown of some generating stations, triggered transmission line outages and ultimately caused widespread interruption of electricity supply to Lagos and surrounding areas.

In a bid to stabilise the grid and prevent a broader system collapse, the National Control Centre reportedly directed several power generation companies to immediately reduce their output to manage the rising frequency within the network.

The company disclosed that the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, convened an emergency meeting with top officials of the TCN and the Nigerian Independent System Operator shortly after receiving reports of the incident.

The meeting, according to TCN, focused on coordinating urgent restoration measures and mapping out steps to normalise power supply in the affected areas.

TCN further stated that one of the affected transmission lines, the Benin–Egbin 330kV line, which tripped during the disturbance, has already been restored and is currently transmitting bulk electricity.

The company added that engineers from its Benin and Omotoso subregions are presently working to rectify faults on the Benin–Omotoso 330kV transmission line to ensure full restoration of power supply to the Lagos complex.

TCN expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to residents, businesses and electricity consumers affected by the outage, assuring that the Ministry of Power and relevant agencies are making efforts to restore normal bulk electricity transmission as quickly as possible.