NEWS & UPDATES
Kemena - Selangau 275kV Transmission Line Repaired & Renergised
KUCHING, 31st JANUARY 2016, SUNDAY: The damaged portion of the Kemena-Selangau 275 kV transmission line was successfully repaired and re-energised today by SESCO.
The much-anticipated repair work on the Kemena-Selangau line along the Tatau River began at 7.30 am, with the physical repair works successfully completed at 12.45 pm and the line re-energised at approximately 3.30 pm. Favourable weather conditions and careful preparation made it possible for the technical team to repair the transmission line well before the targeted completion time of 5pm.
The 8 hour operation was undertaken by a site team of about 40 comprising technical specialists, senior safety officers, and management from Sarawak Energy led by Robert Cheu, Senior Manager for Transmission Line Operations. Victor Wong, Sarawak Energy's senior vice president for Grid System Operations was on-site to observe the operations.
The team was focused on repairing the damaged line safely with the other line continuing to supply power from generation plants in northern Sarawak to customers in the south.
Datuk Torstein Dale Sjotveit, Group CEO of Sarawak Energy said, “Congratulations and thank you to the team from SESCO and our transmission line contractor Larico Infrastructure Sdn Bhd for a job effectively executed, to a high safety standard. I am pleased that our customers were able to carry on with their daily activities while the repair work was ongoing.
"To our customers, I would like to say thank you to everyone for your understanding and support. We will continue to focus our efforts on strengthening Sarawak's power grid system and security of power in the state.”
SESCO CEO Lu Yew Hung said,” Thank you to the teams who were on standby all weekend both to support this operation and to restore power as quickly as possible in case of an outage.”
Sarawak Energy's focus is to enhance system reliability and avoid the recurrence of major blackouts by completing critical parts of the 500 kV Backbone Transmission project in Q2 2016. Prior to that, north to south power transmission is dependent on the current Transmission Backbone of which the Kemena-Selangau lines are a critical stretch.
