Power station collapse under the coverage of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc, managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has caused a blackout in Abuja, Kogi Abuja, with residents experiencing outages.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company attributed the blackout to a technical fault on 33kv feeder k6 from AT9 Karu Transmission Station managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“The management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc wishes to notify its esteemed customers that there is currently a technical fault on 33kv feeder k6 from AT9 Karu Transmission Station, managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“The areas affected in Abuja are Zamani Estate, Abacha Road Mararaba, Ruga Juli, Old Karu Road, Glory Estate and environs.
“The TCN maintenance crew is working to ensure the supply of electricity to these areas is restored in the shortest possible,” the company stated.
Also, in a statement, TCN announced that its maintenance crew would carry out planned maintenance on its TR3 45MVA and TR2 60MVA power transformers in its 132/33kV Okene Transmission Substation.
“The two-day maintenance is scheduled to begin today, Tuesday, 19th, and ends tomorrow, Wednesday, 20th March 2024, from 10:00 am to 03:00 pm for five hours daily,” the TCN stated.
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“Consequently, Abuja DisCo will not be able to offtake power from the substation to its customers in OKENE TOWN, today, and also KABBA, OSOSO, and IKARE, tomorrow, 20th March 2024 for five hours.
“Kindly note that bulk power supply will be restored to Abuja DisCo immediately after maintenance work is completed.”
Power station collapse can occur due to voltage instability or frequency imbalance. Voltage collapse is the process by which the sequence of events accompanying voltage instability leads to an unacceptable voltage drop in a significant part of the power system, causing a catastrophic decrease in voltage and loss of stability in large interconnected power systems, leading to a blackout.
When supply exceeds demand, the electrical frequency increases, and in extreme cases, some power plants may shut down, causing a sudden drop in the available generation on the grid, exacerbating the frequency imbalance and potentially leading to a full/partial system collapse.