Northern Nigerian states face blackout amid disruption of TCN’s transmission lines 

States in the North-West, North-East, and parts of North-Central Nigeria will experience power outages following the disruption of two 330kV Ugwaji-Apir Double Circuit transmission lines, impacting the affected areas.

This is confirmed by the spokesperson of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Ndidi Mbah, in a circular.

According to Mbah, the tripping of both lines resulted in the loss of  468 megawatts (MW), causing a major power outage.

He said while TCN’s team of engineers are working to discover the cause of the tripping, they are yet to ascertain what led to the disruption.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reports that its 330kV Ugwuaji-Apir Double Circuit transmission lines (1 & 2) went offline due to a fault, resulting in a widespread power outage affecting the North East, North West, and parts of North Central Nigeria. At approximately 4:53 a.m., the Ugwuaji-Makurdi 330kV Line 2 lost power, and 243 MW was transferred to Line 1 on the same route. However, by 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also went offline, causing a total loss of 468 MW. Attempts to restore both lines at 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. were unsuccessful as both lines tripped immediately upon activation. 

“Following these incidents, two teams of engineers were deployed—one from the Apir Transmission Sub-region and another from the Enugu Transmission Region—to expedite fault tracing along the affected 215 km stretch, which includes 245 transmission towers,” TCN said.

Efforts Underway to Restore Lines 

In addition, TCN detailed the efforts undertaken by its engineering teams to restore the transmission lines.

Mbah stated that TCN has successfully restored power supply via the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir. However, the 330kV lines are still out of service, disrupting power distribution across the Northern region.

He added that TCN Is working tirelessly to identify and fix the fault to enable the engineers to fully restore bulk power through the affected lines.

“Currently, TCN has restored power supply through the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir. However, the 330kV lines remain out of service, affecting power distribution across the Northern region. Additionally, the Shiroro-Mando transmission line is down due to security concerns, further compounding the power outage in the North. 

“TCN is making every effort to identify and resolve the fault to allow engineers to restore bulk power through the affected lines,” he added.

What you should know 

Nigeria currently grapples with poor electricity supply, leading to individuals and companies relying on diesel-fueled generators to run businesses and industries.

The inadequacy in power supply has been attributed to various factors such as low generation of power, insufficiency in gas supply as well as infractions from the distribution companies.

In addition, this is compounded by frequent disruption of transmission lines by vandals, weather-related events or technical challenges.

So far, there have been multiple tripping of transmission lines and even grid collapses this year, leading to major blackouts in different states and even the country at large.