KUCHING, June 24 — Sarawak Energy Berhad has deployed additional generator sets (gensets) to Limbang to stabilise the power supply in the Sarawak’s northern district, pending the completion of repair works on some of its existing faulty generators, its vice-president for distribution Yusri Safri said today.
He said two 1500 kilowatt (kW) gensets were sent from Kuching to support the load demand in Limbang and to serve as a backup supply and as a supplement to the One Megavolt amperes (MVA) mobile genset that was recently deployed from Miri.
“We are making every effort to stabilise supply as soon as possible, working on an urgent basis since this issue was first recorded in May and we deeply regret the inconvenience experienced by the residents of Limbang due to the supply interruptions,” he said in a statement.
According to Yusri, repair works on the faulty generators were ongoing with one of the gensets expected to be back online by this Friday to restore normal supply to Limbang by month-end, while another genset is expected to be back online in three weeks’ time, pending delivery of spare parts.
“The current restrictions under the Movement Control Order (MCO), compounded by a long route bypassing (the Malaysia-Brunei) 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.
Supply interruptions had been experienced in some parts of the district after the gensets broke down and the available functioning generators had already reached their maximum capacity but facing the potential of not being able to cater for peak demand especially during hot weather.
Yusri said the district would be connected to the Northern Grid Extension Project which would be a long-term solution to meet the area’s growing demand and the works had been progressing despite the challenges of the COVID-19 situation.
He said under this project, Limbang will be connected to Sarawak’s main power plants through the grid and would no longer dependent on diesel generation with the commissioning of the Limbang Town Extra High Voltage 275/33/11kV substation, which is 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,” he added.
