The Transmission Company of Nigeria announced on Tuesday that power supply has been restored to areas affected by an arcing incident on the Benin-Egbin 330 Kilovolt isolator.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the restoration was completed around 6:10 p.m. on Monday.
Arcing, an electrical discharge between conductors, caused the incident, resulting in line tripping and subsequent power outages in some regions.
The TCN General Manager of Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, clarified in a statement that the incident did not lead to a system collapse.
The issue began at approximately 2:47 p.m. on Monday when a heavy system surge led to arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
This caused tripping at the Egbin Generating Station, cutting power to all outgoing lines from the Egbin Transmission Substations.
The sudden load increase on the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line 1 further resulted in serious arcing of isolator terminals. To prevent further impact on the national grid, TCN temporarily opened the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line to halt electricity flow.
She said, ”however, the incident did not cause a system collapse.”
She explained that ”The lines tripping started earlier at about 2:47 p.m on Monday 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 Substations’ outgoing lines.
”This led to an exponential increase in load on the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line 1 with serious arcing of isolator terminals on the Osogbo-Ihovbor 330kV line 1.”
By 2:56 p.m. on Monday, the Benin-Egbin 330kV line 1 Circuit Breaker tripped at the Benin Transmission Substation, affecting power supply to Lagos, parts of the South West, North Central, and Abuja.
Other regions, including the South East, North East, and additional parts of North Central and South West, maintained full power supply.
The TCN swiftly rectified the line tripping, allowing the grid controller to restore full bulk power supply through the transmission lines by 6:10 p.m. on Monday.
