Why There Is Nationwide Blackout – TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said the collapse of the National Grid on May 8, at 2:32p.m. was caused by multiple tripping on its substation in Onitsha, Anambra.

The Managing Director of TCN, Mr Mohammed Usman, made the disclosure at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

This is coming after Naija News had earlier reported the collapse in the electrical grind, a development that has already led to a total blackout in some parts of the country

“What happened a day before yesterday at 14;32 hours was a case of system collapse, we had tripping.

“The reason for the grid collapse was that there was a multiple tripping around Onitsha substation. We are also suspecting that one of the generators went out.

“We have sent our team of engineers to go and investigate, we normally investigate this kind of disturbances,’’ he said.

“Although, we have achieved some level of stability on the grid through the massive investment that we have done in the last two years.

“It does not mean that our grid has become disturbance free, because our grid is still very fragile. It is a journey that we are in that will take us to have a modern and stabilised grid.

“You remember, I had told you that we need to achieve four important things to have a stabilised grid.

“We need to have critical investment in lines and substations so that we put N-1 across the country, that will ensure that any equipment that goes out at any point in time will not affect supply on that area.

“For example, what happened in Apo recently, where we had a transformer that got burnt, we restored supply in two hours, because we had N-1 in that substation and that is what we are trying to achieve in all the country,” he said.