The Nigerian Independent System Operator said Egbin Power Station suffered a major operational disturbance on April 28, 2026, at about 8:21 p.m., with output collapsing from about 641MW to zero. The shutdown hit one of Nigeria’s biggest power plants and quickly forced operators to move to emergency grid measures.
The system operator said the loss was triggered by the failure of the plant’s central compressor and a malfunction in the circulating water pump system, which required an immediate shutdown of all generating units to protect the facility. It added that power supply to Lagos was further constrained by the forced outage of the Osogbo–Ikeja West 330kV transmission line, limiting how much power could reach the load centre.
The outage matters because Egbin Power Station is the largest electricity-generating plant on the national grid and a major source of daily supply in Nigeria. With installed capacity of 1,320 megawatts, the plant’s sudden drop to zero created what the system operator described as a significant supply shortfall. To stop the disruption from spreading, it said load-shedding was necessary and that available load was being reallocated across distribution companies while efforts continued to optimise output from other plants.
Separate from the grid disturbance, Egbin Power Plc had already shut down operations after a fatal industrial accident involving a contractor during an underwater maintenance exercise. Felix Ofulue said emergency response, safety and reporting protocols were activated immediately and that the relevant authorities were promptly notified. A source said the contractor had been doing specialised underwater work at the plant’s pump house and was affiliated with Browndive Underwater Services.
The company has not publicly laid out the full sequence behind the shutdown, and that leaves the central issue in plain view: Egbin has been offline and disconnected from the national grid since April 28, and the system is still compensating for the loss. Until the plant comes back, Lagos remains exposed to a tighter supply picture and a grid operator still balancing what is available against what the city needs.
