KUCHING, August 16: An underground cable fault affected power supply to Samariang and Santubong on Tuesday night during a scheduled shutdown for works to upgrade one of two 33kV underground cables from the Astana Substation supplying Samariang up to Santubong.
“One of the two cables supplying to Samariang and Santubong Substation from Astana Substation was shut down for upgrading earlier in the morning. However, at around 5pm, the other cable tripped due to a fault in the cable. This caused loss of supply to customers staying around Samariang and Santubong areas,” explained Sarawak Energy Berhad (Sarawak Energy) vice-president for distribution, Siti Aisah Adenan in a press statement yesterday.
“The upgrading work was planned to enhance the network system to cater for the increasing load demand in the areas. The underground cable fault would take time to locate and repair especially at night so the team decided to expedite the upgrading works already progressing half way at Samariang Substation instead,” she continued.
“The supply was fully restored at 1.20am after completion of extensive works on the underground cable. Three mobile generators were deployed to supply parts of the affected areas while repair works were ongoing. Our technical team worked through the night and successfully energised the upgraded cable for full restoration to the affected areas,” said Siti Aisah.
The cable upgrading work is part of the system reinforcement plan covering Samariang up to Santubong, being undertaken by Sarawak Energy utility arm Syarikat SESCO Bhd.
The works include the construction of the new Aminudin Baki Substation, laying of cables from Samariang to the Aminudin Baki Substation and the uprating of existing Astana-Samariang cables.
Expected to be completed by next year, the upgrading works will cost around RM45 million and will be implemented in stages.
While the upgrading works are ongoing, Sarawak Energy continues to closely monitor the lines to ensure fast restoration of supply in the case of an interruption. — DayakDaily
