Kimanis Power Plant (KPP) starts commercial operations

After a failed Load Rejection Test last month, Kimanis Power Plant finally kicked start commercial operation of of its power plant, which I 'suppose' is good news.

When I posted about the LRT (with high hope) last month, Mr Turbineman (Thomas Lee) commented it normally points to not-so-good news and true enough this KPP had issues with gas supply from SOGT, which was not even the test itself, and that lead to postponement of the LRT. Subsequent test was carried out later and an engineer friend who works there said KPP was ready to go supply power. Soon afterward the power plant came online on 16 May 2014.

First 100 MW block starts operation

The Petronas Group achieved another milestone for its business in Sabah when Petronas Gas Berhad's subsidiary, Kimanis Power Sdn Bhd (KPSB), started the commercial operations of the first 100 MW block of its Kimanis Power Plant (KPP) in Kimanis on May 16.

The KPP, one of several petroleum and energy related projects developed by the Petronas Group in Sabah, is expected to contribute significantly to the reliability and security of power supply in the State, once fully operational.

The three-blocks, 300 MW gas-fired power plant is a key project in the "Power Up Sabah" initiative, established under the Malaysian Economic Transformation Plan (ETP).

The plant utilises natural gas from offshore Sabah.

Besides strengthening the Sabah electricity grid, the successful start of the commercial operations is a significant milestone in providing a reliable source of energy towards supporting the State's economic growth.

A joint venture between Petronas PGB and Yayasan Sabah's subsidiary NRG Consortium (Sabah) Sdn Bhd, the plant's first block's commercial operations date (COD) of May 16 2014 was within the targeted schedule announced in February this year.

Chairman of KPSB, Yusa' Hassan, said this achievement was a significant milestone for the company after many months of meticulous planning and hard work. The COD for the plant's second and third 100 MW blocks is scheduled in the third quarter of 2014.

PGB owns 60% of KPSB while NRG Consortium owns the remaining 40%.


TheGreenMechanics: Hope there'll finally be light at the end of the never ending 'blackout' tunnel!

SESB to conduct load rejection test on Kimanis IPP today

The independent power producer (IPP) in Kimanis, Papar will be conducting a load rejection test today. Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) said the test would be conducted for 30 minutes from 5pm and involve an energy load of 72 MW.





Load Rejection Test (LRT)

To understand what is LRT, I've quoted Hurricane193 here: "Load rejection test means to test the engine performance with no load condition after running with full load. Simply, the test done to check the engine and generator performance in case generator circuit breaker suddenly trip due to fault in upper network."

You can see the typical procedure explained by Hurricane193 at: Load Rejection Test

"The test process is very important to the IPP station to begin channeiling the Sabah Interconnection Grid System. It involves load rejection by the IPP and sudden reduction of the grid system frequency to a controlled level." - Muhamad Nazri Pazil, Senior General Manager (Asset management) SESB.

SESB would take early initiatives, including making a computer simulation of the MW loss to the grid system to ensure there was no impact on the consumers when the test was being conducted.

Consumers were encouraged to contact the SESB at 15454 or 088-515000 if their area experienced a power failure. SESB assured that immediate action would be taken on all complaints sent through the official channels.


TheGreenMechanics: This should be good news as we've been waiting for the excess capacity to cater for the increasing energy need in Sabah. Finger crossed, this will be successful.

On the issue of power failure, there is also an emergency line you can contact SESB during 'emergency' cases.

But from personal experience, the staff maning the call centre (emergence number) would insist that you call 15454 or 515000 instead before they can mobilise the stand-by team. I strongly believe SESB should give exception when it involve facilities that concern the public such water works, hospitals, etc.

Kimanis RM1.5bil gas-fired plant

Last month myself and a group of colleagues travelled South to Beaufort on a tour of duty. After about an hour of driving, we passed by Kimanis, Papar. This is the location of the (soon-to-be) biggest - designed for 300MW - power plants in Sabah to address the power supply issue in the state. It is still in the early stage of construction.

Not exactly the Power Plant but this SOGT project site should give you an idea of where the generators will be sited.

The power plant costs about RM1.5 billion (US$485 mil) to build and it is owned by Kimanis Power Sdn Bhd (KPSB), a 60:40 joint-venture initiative between Petronas Gas Berhad and NRG Consortium (Sabah) Sdn Bhd, a company under Yayasan Sabah.

The gas-fuelled plant consists of 3 nos of 100MW generating blocks, each of which consists of Gas Turbine Generator (GTG), Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) and Steam Turbine Generator (STG). This makes it 300MW in total and this should take care of at least short term electricity demand in Sabah. But it is also understood that the plant has allocated a space for future upgrading and the expansion infrastructure can cater for additional 100MW of supply.

According to SESB's data, Sabah recorded a highest peak demand (MD) of 830MW on June 28, 2011. The independent power producer (IPP) could not have came at a better time.

Engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning works for the combined cycle gas power plant is to be done by Synerlitz Sdn Bhd (Taiwan owned) and SCHB Engineering Services (a subsidiary of Suria Capital Holdings Berhad).

The Kimanis Power Plant project is one of the bigger spin-off activities from the proposed Sabah Onshore Gas Terminal (SOGT) project, located in Kimanis and implemented by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd. Site preparation works for the SOGT project was undertaken by Montis Sdn Bhd, a Penampang-based local company.

SOGT site preparation works - local company benefited.

The power plant project is scheduled for full completion in 32 months' time, from Apr 1, 2011 and the first commercial operation date for the first generating block is December 1, 2013.

Once completed, the Kimanis Power Plant will be the biggest IPP plant Sabah (until such time that a bigger one comes in) and it will take great responsibility in supplying reliable and clean electricity to Malaysians in Sabah.

Power plant summary

Power supply requirement fulfilled?

The short term energy demand should be taken care of for now but more such facilities must be constructed to meet the fast increasing peak demand. According to SESB, electricity demand in Sabah is expected to reach 1,500 MW by the year 2020.

Preferably, there should also be some investment in renewable energy such as hydroelectric, biomass/biogas and solar photovoltaic.