KUCHING, Feb 20: The new Niah extra high voltage (EHV) substation as well as a series of currently ongoing supply system reinforcement projects is expected to improve electricity supply reliability at Niah.
Sarawak Energy Berhad (Sarawak Energy) vice-president for distribution Yusri Safri said since the beginning of this year, Niah and its surrounding areas recorded six incidents of supply interruption with four related to planned shutdowns of short duration for load transfer purposes.
“With the commissioning of the new Niah extra high voltage (EHV) substation and other reinforcement projects, this will definitely improve supply reliability for our customers and reduce such interruptions.
“In the meantime, we will do the best we can to step up efforts to reduce the risk of supply disruptions and improve our response time to safely restore supply if an outage occurs,” he said in a statement today.
Yusri also appealed for the cooperation of the public especially landowners when it comes to overgrown vegetation affecting supply lines which is a common cause of supply interruptions.
He said it is an ongoing effort to check on, maintain and where necessary, replace any ageing equipment to enable the smooth operation of Sarawak Energy facilities before the Niah EHV substation comes online.
“We remain committed and are investing significantly to ensure supply reliability to our customers, and to-date, Sarawak Energy has spent more than RM20 million in reinforcement projects for Niah alone,” he added.
The reinforcement projects involve the laying of 33KV and 11KV overhead and underground supply lines to connect with the already completed 33KV Niah substation.
Work is expected to be completed by June this year preceding the construction of the new RM185 million Niah EHV substation which will serve as an additional injection point for the area.
The new injection point will shorten supply lines, facilitating switching operations in the event of a tripping and also lower vulnerability to outages due to external factors on long lines.
The new Niah EHV substation is expected to be completed by 2026 and Niah and its surrounding areas are currently being supplied by Similajau and Marudi EHV substations through long overhead supply lines spanning a total of 140km which makes these lines susceptible to disturbances causing tripping incidents.
For Suai and Niah areas, it is covered by the Similajau EHV substation through 65km-long 33KV overhead lines while Bekenu, Bakong and Ladang Tiga are supplied by the Marudi Junction EHV substation through a 75km-long 33KV overhead lines. — DayakDaily
