TCN gives reasons for Thursday’s Zero MW

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, yesterday, explained that the nationwide total system collapse experienced at 12:35pm on Thursday, was caused by the tripping of Osogbo/Ihovbor and Ihovbor/Benin 330kV transmission lines, which resulted in loss of 201MW generation from Ihovbor power station. The Management of System Operation/Market Operation (SO/MO) of the TCN, in a statement yesterday explained further that the generation and load imbalance that ensued, defined by sudden decline in system frequency, culminated in the Collapse. According to TCN, “Total grid generation at collapse inception was 3,196.0MW. The low generation at the time was due to shortage of gas supply to generators. “The transmission grid is characteristically susceptible to system collapses when generation is below 3,500MW and the available spinning reserve capacity is low. “TCN is working assiduously to consolidate the gains recorded in system stability, which is evident from the substantial reduction of system collapses from 22 in 2013 to 9 in 2014 followed by 6 in 2015. “A substantial number of these collapses are attributable to low system generation due to gas supply issues which impacts stability. TCN recalled that “The improvement in system stability is also evidenced by the fact that TCN has been able to wheel maximum energy of 109,372MWH on 2nd February, 2016 while the peak power transferred on the same day was 5, 074 MW. “The System Operator, TCN regrets the inconvenience caused by the collapse.”