The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has dismissed reports of a national grid collapse on Monday, clarifying that the incident was due to a line tripping at the Benin-Egbin 330kV isolator.
TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah, in a statement on Tuesday, explained that while the tripping did disrupt power supply in some areas, it did not result in a full grid collapse as some media outlets reported.
The incident occurred around 2:47 p.m. when a significant system surge caused arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator at the Egbin Transmission Substation.
The problem was resolved by 6:10 p.m., restoring power to the affected regions. Mbah stressed that the situation, although serious, did not lead to a nationwide blackout, countering earlier claims.
However, Mbah said the arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV did not result in the collapse of the grid system but did affect the power supply in some areas of the country.
He stated that the line tripping began around 2:47 p.m. yesterday, caused by a significant system surge that resulted in the arcing of the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
According to him, this issue has been resolved and power supply has been restored to the substation.
“The line tripping started earlier at about 2:47 p.m. yesterday, with a heavy system surge that led to the arcing of Benin–Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
“This resulted in a tripping at the Egbin Generating Station, which caused the loss of power supply to all the Egbin Transmission Substation’s outgoing lines.
“The line tripping was quickly rectified, enabling the grid controller to restore full bulk power supply through the transmission lines at about 6.10 pm yesterday,” he said.