KUCHING, June 26: Sarawak Energy is deploying additional generators to meet and stabilise the power supply load in Limbang, following the Limbang Power Station supply instability experienced by the local customers in the district, since May.
According to Sarawak Energy vice president for distribution Yusri Safri, in a statement today, repair works of generators have been delayed by current restrictions on movement, and the available generators have also reached their maximum capacity, with the potential risk of not being able to cater for peak demand especially during hot weather.
“We are making every effort to stabilise supply as soon as possible and have been working on this on an urgent basis since this issue was first recorded in May.
“We deeply regret the inconvenience experienced by the residents of Limbang due to the supply interruptions, and we assure them we are making every effort to meet their needs, including raising the generation capacity.” he said.
Yusri noted repair works on the faulty gensets are ongoing and they are expecting one of the gensets to be back online by this Friday (June 25), which would restore the power supply to Limbang by month-end, while another genset is expected to be back online in three weeks, pending delivery of spare parts.
“Our operations team will also do our best to restore supply to the affected areas as soon as safely possible in the event of an interruption,” he added.
Yusri pointed out that Sarawak Energy has also deployed two additional 1500kW generator sets from Kuching to support the load demand in Limbang and serve as back-up supply, as well as to supplement the existing one unit of 1 Megavolt amperes (MVA) mobile generator set that was recently deployed from Miri.
He emphasised that there will be sufficient generation capacity for Limbang once repairs to the generators have been carried out.
“The current restrictions under the Movement Control Order (MCO) compounded by a long route bypassing international border crossings to get to Limbang, have delayed repair works, but we remain committed to meet the electricity supply requirements of the district,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Energy noted, work to connect the district as part of the Northern Grid extension project progress under a long-term solution to meet the area’s growing demand is progressing despite the challenges of the Covid-19 situation.
“Under the Northern Grid extension project, Limbang will be connected to Sarawak’s main power plants through the Grid and will no longer depend on diesel generation with the commissioning of the Limbang Town Extra High Voltage 275/33/11kV substation, targeted for completion in 2023.
“The grid extensions are planned to meet growing demand as areas in the Limbang division continue to expand with new townships, businesses and residential areas,” the statement read.
For more information and updates on supply interruption in Limbang, customers can call Sarawak Energy’s 24-hour Customer Care Centre at 1300-88-3111 or email to customercare@sarawakenergy.com. — DayakDaily
