Blackout- Labour unions shutdown national grid -TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says that the labour unions have shut down the national grid, resulting in blackouts nationwide.

Mrs. Ndi Mbah, TCN's General Public Affairs Manager, said this in a statement in Abuha on Monday.

Mbah said that the national grid shutdown occurred at about 2.19 a.m. this morning.

She said that at about 1:15 a.m., the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room.

Mbah said that members of staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room, and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Centre was brought to zero.

”Other transmission substations that were shut down by the labour unions include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo transmission substations.

”Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour unions,” she said.

Mbah said that power-generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants.

She said that the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation were subsequently shut down at very high frequencies.

Mbah said that the sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 a. m.

”At about 3.23 am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.

”The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.

”We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide, she said.