NEWS & UPDATES

Sarawak, Kuching – Wednesday, 18 July, 2012 – 4.00pm – Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) deeply regrets the inconvenience and disruption caused to our customers in Kuching by a transmission fault today.

SEB’s Grid System Operator, Mr Yong Ying Poh said “One of the two 275kV transmission lines that connect Engkilili to Mambong was taken out of service today at 11:47am for urgent replacement of a failed Capacitor Voltage Transformer.  At 2:12pm today, the remaining circuit tripped unexpectedly, as a result of a line fault. “

“Since the second line tripped, the only source of supply into Kuching has been from Sejingkat and Tun Abdul Rahman power stations.  These stations do not have sufficient capacity to meet demand in Kuching without support from elsewhere in the State.  To keep the system stable, it has therefore been necessary to turn off supply to some areas around Kuching for up to 45 minutes at a time.”

“We expect that full load will be restored to all affected areas by 5:00pm. Our maintenance crews are working to complete the replacement job so that the other circuit can be put back to service immediately” said Mr Yong.

“SEB acknowledges the community’s understandable frustration as a result of today’s events. 

“We have began an investigation into the underlying cause of today’s incident and will use that information to continue to improve the standard of reliability in Sarawak.”

*** The Grid System Operator is a statutory office with a specific responsibility for maintaining the security of the power system in Sarawak.