[Nigeria] Widespread blackouts follow ‘total system collapse’

In Nigeria, widespread power cuts followed a "total system collapse", earlier today (September 14), BBC News reports.

According to electricity distribution companies, levels of power being generated fell to zero megawatts early in the morning.

Some supplies have reportedly been restored, however, these represent only a small fraction of usual consumption in Africa's most populous country.

Despite its role as a major oil and gas producer, power supplies in Nigeria are often erratic but this is the most serious such outage for a year.

Nigeria's grid collapsed at least four times in 2022, with authorities blaming technical problems.

Less than half of the West African country's population has access to a regular power supply, leaving the majority of people dependent on generators, inverters and other sources of electricity. Most homes and office buildings are not solely dependent on the national grid for power supply.

The Reuters news agency reports that the theoretical maximum amount of power Nigeria could produce is 12,500MW yet the country normally produces just a quarter of that.

On September 14, at around 10:30 local time (09:30 GMT) power levels rose from zero to 273MW. Data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria revealed that this is still well below the daily average of 4,100MW.

President Bola Tinubu has pledged to improve supply by allowing state governments to build their own power plants. He has been in power for little more than 100 days.

Source: BBC News

In Nigeria, widespread power cuts followed a "total system collapse", earlier today (September 14), BBC News reports.

According to electricity distribution companies, levels of power being generated fell to zero megawatts early in the morning.

Some supplies have reportedly been restored, however, these represent only a small fraction of usual consumption in Africa's most populous country.

Despite its role as a major oil and gas producer, power supplies in Nigeria are often erratic but this is the most serious such outage for a year.

Nigeria's grid collapsed at least four times in 2022, with authorities blaming technical problems.

Less than half of the West African country's population has access to a regular power supply, leaving the majority of people dependent on generators, inverters and other sources of electricity. Most homes and office buildings are not solely dependent on the national grid for power supply.

The Reuters news agency reports that the theoretical maximum amount of power Nigeria could produce is 12,500MW yet the country normally produces just a quarter of that.

On September 14, at around 10:30 local time (09:30 GMT) power levels rose from zero to 273MW. Data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria revealed that this is still well below the daily average of 4,100MW.

President Bola Tinubu has pledged to improve supply by allowing state governments to build their own power plants. He has been in power for little more than 100 days.

Source: BBC News