First 100MW from Kimanis Power Plant to come on stream in March 2014

Last year I wrote about Kimanis RM1.5billion gas-fired power plant in the district of Papar.

On his busy schedule to get himself up-to-speed with the goings-on in the power supply issues in Sabah, Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili gave us a hint of when we will have better and more stable power supply in this part of the country.

Dr. Maximus (wearing hat) says that will happen in March next year.


Sabah can expect more stable power supply in March 2014

The power generation capacity in Sabah's grid is expected to be more stable when the Kimanis Power Plant (KPP) project comes on stream next year. 300MW of electricity is expected to be generated in stages beginning the first quarter of 2014.

The power plant consists of 3 generating blocks and each block generates 100MW of power. So far the completion of works has reach about 96%.

"Completion of delivery on the Kimanis Power Plant is by end of this year but the first 100MW will be channeled in March next year and the other two blocks with about 200MW will be generated in July as the deadline."
- Datuk Seri Dr. Maximus Ongkili, Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water.

I suppose the reporter is trying to say that the installation works at KPP is scheduled for completion at year-end but due to some technical issues that need to be addressed, the first 100MW will only be channeled in March next year.


Effect on SAIDI (System Avegare Interruption Duration Index)

Last year, SAIDI target for Sabah was 490 minutes per consumer for which SESB said was achieved. This year SESB targetted 450 minutes of downtime per consumer, and I feel that a modest 40-minute improvement is very marginal.

But with the completion and operation of the Kimanis Power Pant next year, the utility company is expecting to achieve  SAIDI of below 300 minutes per customer.

If you take Penang or Johor as benchmarks, you will find that the SESB's SAIDI figures above are not impressive at all. Look at the following achievements by some of the states in Peninsula Malaysia (2011):

State	Target ( 2011 )	Achievement  (minutes per customer per year)
Sabah	700	494
Penang	99	76
Kelantan	75	72
Selangor	74	61
Johor	99	78

Lower SAIDI is better. Source

Focus group to address power woes in Sabah

This is a move that should give you a bit of a reason to cheer up. The government will form a focus group to monitor and advise on the implementation of electricity supply projects in Sabah.

It's essentially a committee that will report to the Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister on matters relating to the planning and implementation of electricity supply projects in the state.

Composition of the focus group:

• Dato’ Seri Mahdzir Khalid - Chairman
• Energy Commission representative
• Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) representative 
• Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) representatives
• 7 Barisan Nasional backbenchers from component parties in Sabah.

The terms of reference (TOR) of the focus group:

• to monitor closely the development and implementation of power generation, transmission and distribution projects, particularly those approved under the Tenth Malaysia Plan, 
• to study the electricity tariff,
• to look at SESB’s turnaround.

The other agencies that will be involved include the Economic Planning Unit and Public Private Cooperation Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department, Finance Ministry, Infrastructure Division of the Rural and Regional Development Ministry, Sabah State Economic Planning Unit and Sustainable Energy Development Authority.

“The government is committed to addressing the electricity woes in Sabah and the formation of the focus group will step up the efforts.”
- Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili

The minister said various measures would be in place within the next three years, which are expected to ensure sufficient electricity supply for Sabah for the next decade.


Sabah's current electricity supply status

Sabah’s installed electricity capacity is at 1,344MW and available capacity is about 1,100MW while demand is at 870 to 950MW, with a reserve of between 20 MW and 100 MW. The available capacity is lower than the installed capacity due to contingency for planned power outage and forced outage.


TheGreenMechanics' 2 cents:
I agree with the notion that, for us to address Sabah’s electricity woes, every party has to cooperate and be rational. While the rakyat can cooperate by willing to wait and stretching their patience to the limit, those given the power/trust to manage the situation would also need to show urgency.

AND for once, please avoid giving excuses when you cannot fulfill pledges.

More readings here.

10-year plan to address blackouts in Sabah

Frustrated people post in their social network page that every month there are 10 to 20 blackouts in their area of residence and this has been happening for many, many years already.

With several power plants due for operations in a couple of years' time, it should take the Federal Government less than 10 years to fully address this issue, no matter how complicated the situation at SESB is.


10 years is way too long, but 'some plan' is better than nothing! Newspaper clipping - DE, 17-7-2013.


What we hear more often is that IPPs in the West Coast are having hard time maintaining their equipment, and Power Plants in the East Coast are delaying the full commissioning/operations of their long-delayed-temporarily-installed generators.

So, the assurance that "any financial requirement would be approved, if justified" is much welcomed! Come on, you guys!

: :       : :       : :       : :       : :       : :       : :

Energy Minister says 10 years is needed to tackle perennial power failure issues in Sabah

Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government has set a goal to address Sabah's infamous blackouts within the next 10 years, said Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.

He said the Prime Minister had directed him to solve the problem in Sabah and that any financial requirement would be approved, if justified.

The tariff collection by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) was only sufficient to cover 80 per cent of its operational cost and the rest was being subsidised by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), he said. "But for how long can this go on?" he said at the breaking of fast with the media and orphans in Promenade Hotel here Tuesday.

Power seepage, according to him was about one per cent in Semenanjung but in Sabah it was about two per cent which translated to about RM50 million being lost.

Dr Ongkili said the Federal Government had been doing its best to reduce the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) in Sabah and had spent about half a billion ringgit in the past three years for the purpose.

In Sabah's case, he said the issue of power generation, transmission and distribution must be addressed in order to reduce Saidi.

For power generation, he said the Federal Government had to re-strategise its planning when the proposed coal-fired power plant project in Lahad Datu was scrapped after seven years of debate.

Among the issues that needed to be addressed to improve distribution of power was the fact that about 80 per cent of Sabah's cables being open cables are not coated, meaning it might take just one curious bird landing on the power cable to cause a major power disruption.

- Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86117

Privatisation of SESB a failure?

You have to read this and take it with a pinch of salt.

At face value, it is a serious allegation but if you read the whole article, you will begin to understand why he/she said what he/she wrote. I reproduced it from Daily Express weekend readers' submission. What do I think about it? I think we still have the most blackouts in the whole country!

Almost blackout? Full moon shot at | 200mm | f/8 | 1/25s | ISO 200 |

: :       : :       : :       : :       : :       : :       : :       : :

Here is a reproduce of the DE reader's letter:

Privatisation of SESB a failure

I refer to the strong criticism by new Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan on SESB staff regarding the numerous blackouts.

I was witness when he was invited to launch the new SESB red uniform introduced by Datuk Baharin of TNB. Raymond was then full of praise for the SESB management for reporting to him that the SAIDI (big word for blackout data) was greatly reduced.

So, why only berate the low level staff for so-called blackouts and not reporting the real reasons for the return of more blackouts?

Why not refer to Dr. Maximus Ongkili, the Minister of Energy who made lots of promises recently.

He can also refer to the Chairman for both SESB and TNB, namely Datuk Leo Moggie or call the CEO of TNB or MD of SESB, En. Razak Salim to ask about the blackouts.

While he is talking to these top guys, he should also ask why after all the glamorous efforts in filling the walls of TNB and SESB with certificates in ISO9001, SEMS, 5S, EWRMS and hundreds of other certificates, Sabah blackouts have not changed since SESB was called SEB under the State Government?

Achieving the ISO9001 certification means that the company had standardised their processes and procedures and have achieved high qualities in products and services.

That means SESB must have the highest quality of blackouts in this country. Hence, Raymond must either choose to congratulate them on their ISO9001 success or tell them to stop wasting their time, energy and resource on this rubbish ISO in order to get rid of the blackouts.

EWRMS means a system of managing risk and if they have been certified, then they would have minimised all the risk of getting blackouts. If the blackouts have returned, then someone in TNB must be lying about their EWRMS and it is better to stop this nonsense.

The results may be only for glamour of TNB top officials to justify their datukship prospects.

The public deserve to know that before privatisation of SESB, it used to be known as Lembaga Letrik Sabah (LLS) and there was none of all the glamour activities except for SEMS which was an important safety management system. In those days, the blackouts were there but not as bad.

Hence the privatisation of LLS after more than 15 years has proven to be a total failure if everyone including BN Ministers are still condemning SESB on the blackouts.

However, BN Ministers should stop condemning the poor SESB ordinary staff and blame themselves because SESB is fully under the control of the Federal Government.

SabahLeak, ex-staff of LLS 
Daily Express, June 16, 2013, pp20.

SESB's advice to complainants

In a bid to reach out to its more than 488,000 customers, SESB has launched its Official Facebook page and Twitter. With this, it is hoped that the general public would not be misled anymore by other facebook pages found on the net.


You can "Talk To Us" anytime but provide full information!

I like the idea of being able to contact the utility company  anytime, anywhere, in whatever way. It's fast and hassle-free.

The following newspaper cutting (Daily Express - Mar 25, 2013), says "they can also channel their complaints through toll-free line or through Talk To Us in SESB's website". I was looking for that particular section in their website and actually found none. But "Contact Us" menu would do the job just fine.

Information is powerful, so they say.

So, for best result, provide as much information as possible when making inquiries through the available channels, with at least the followings:-

• complainant's name
• location
• nature of complaint
• contact number
• full description (if space is not an issue)

I don't know about you, but for me, I've tested this out and am now waiting eagerly for some response.


"We want to give our customer the best services. We aim to give the right information, to the right people, at the right time and through the right channels."
- SESB Managing Director, Ir. Abdul Razak Sallim, during the launching of the Official SESB Facebook page.


Read more.

India to have highest transmission voltage at 1,200 kV

Malaysia's TNB transmission lines maximum voltage is 500kV while it is 275kV for Sabah. The quest for higher voltage substations and transmission lines is driven by the increasing amount of power consumption. The higher the voltage, the more power can be transmitted over hundreds or thousands of kilometres.

For now China is still holding the record with its 800kV lines, but this would be soon overtaken by India with the proposed construction of 400/1,200kV substation in Deoli.

To put things into perspective, the distribution lines voltage right before your low voltage (230V) home supply is 11kV in most cases.

Any danger or health effect of high voltage lines to human? There're concerns but No evident to show so far.


World's max voltage substation in Vidarbhaites
Times of India

NAGPUR: The project may not benefit the region but Vidarbhaites can take pride from the fact that Deoli, near Wardha, will have world's maximum voltage substation in four to five years. Powergrid, a central sector PSU, has decided to set up a 400/1,200 KV substation at Deoli. 1,200 KV is the highest voltage proposed in power transmission. Presently, the highest voltage used is 800 KV by China, which is also developing a 1,100 KV system.

Powergrid will lay a 380 km long 1,200 KV transmission line from Deoli to Aurangabad in the first phase. In the next phase, it will construct a 400/1,200 KV at Deoli and then a 1,200/400 KV substation at Aurangabad.

A company official said that a substation was being set up in Bina (Madhya Pradesh) for testing the 1,200 KV system. "We are developing 1,200 KV equipment with the help of private companies like Crompton Greaves, ABB, etc. as they are not available in the world. The test substation will be ready in three years and then we will begin work on the Deoli substation. Once the technology is commercially successful, we will also market it abroad."

Elaborating on the Bina project, the official said that the project cost is estimated at Rs 40 crore. "We will have a 400/1,200 KV transformer at one end and a 1,200/400 KV one at the other. We will then do a load test and find solutions to whatever problems we encounter. Bina was chosen as we have 400 acre land available there."

He said that a 400 KV line could transmit 600 MW power while a 800 KV line's capacity is around 2,000 MW. However, a 1,200 KV line could transmit over 6,000 MW.

Explaining the need for such high voltages, another official said that transmission distance was less in most countries due to their small size.

"United States is a big country but it has distributed generation. However, in India power generation is concentrated. Most thermal plants are located in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand while hydel plants are coming up in the Himalayas. However, demand for power is elsewhere. The higher voltage lines can not only carry more power, but they also have lower losses."

Source - Times of India

Kubota power plant to be fully operational on Feb 8, 2013

The title looks very much like a headline for a regional news. But as far as our situation here is concerned, it's more 'prediction' than 'news', simply because things doesn't materialise as promised anymore nowdays.

As you can see in the following newspaper cutting, this was stated 3 days ago by the Deputy Chief Minister himself. Let's see about it.

Feb 8, 2013: Is this for real this time?

Today is 7th of February and I would like (and who wouldn't) to see that the front page of many tabloids tomorrow say something like "Kubota Power Plant is Now Fully Operational".

I can't blame myself for being a little bit skeptical after series of deferments previously:

1. The 64 MW Kubota station to start operation in June 2012. Back then I thought I would give it a 6-month margin before the plant start operating. That would mean December 2012 rather than June. The delay was understandable as the vessel ferrying the equipment was hijacked by pirate.


2. On Dec 7, 2012 Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui stated that the power station will begin producing electricity starting January 7, 2013. As you can see,   never did it materialised.


3. Latest is what you see in the above Daily Express cutting. That's tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will really happen this time.

Power supply is very close to heart, at least for me, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the place I hailed from is still without electricity despite efforts to get connected for more than 20 years. The 3 neighbouring villages are all enjoying 24 hours power supply already.

Secondly, in the the industry I'm involved in, energy is one of the biggest contributors to the expenses pie. We are one of the biggest energy (electricity) users in Kota Kinabalu, and in the West Coast of Sabah. Stability of power supply is of paramount importance to us.

When the power supply in the East Coast is sufficient, the situation in West Coast will be more stable, and  simply put, more people will get to enjoy 24-hour electricity.

So, come on guys! Don't play games with us and the rakyat. Mean it when you say it, will you!

The GreenMechanics:

EAGERLY WAITING FOR MORE LIGHTS TOMORROW.

Kubota Power Station starts operations in Jan 2013

Really?

Exactly 1 month ago SESB said in a statement that the 64MW power plant in Kubota, Tawau will start operations.

A gentle reminder, if you care. (DE, 7-12-12)

If you recall, this plant was supposed to have started operations in June 2012. But due to the  hijacking of the vessel ferrying the plant equipment intended for this power station, it is understandable. Hopefully they are true to their words this time and starts operating it this month.The hijacking incident is not totally beyond control as TNB has the technology and money to ensure safety of its vessel.

We are currently facing the possibility of load shedding and power rationing due to the failure of one of IPP's generators in Sepanggar causing capacity shortage of 95MW.

We can't afford further delay. BTW, the turbines are understood to be 16 years old, so, I believe this is only for temporary measure by SESB/TNB.

__________________________________________________________________________

Kubota station starts ops Jan
DE - Dec 7, 2012

Tawau: The Kubota power station will start producing electricity from Jan.7, next year, and its 64MW capacity is expected to increase supply in the east coast. Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui, who visited the project site, was satisfied with the progress of the RM80 million project.

"The east coast of Sabah has been facing inadequate electricity supply, and the Kubota power station is badly needed to offset the situation," he said.

Asst Infrastructure Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, who accompanied Chin, said the gas-fired turbine generator would increase Tawau's power generating capacity to 128MW to meet the peak demand of 90MW at present, and would help reduce power outages in the district.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd Managing Director Abd Razak Sallim was present. Launching of the station was behind schedule due to the hijack of the turbines, recently, which had caused a set-back when they ended up in the Philippines.

IPP Shutdown: SESB load shedding on the card

Load shedding in our daily conversation can equate to power outage. Power outage to certain consumers at the affected shedding area. AND that is just what's in store for you in the next few months, or maybe longer.

SESB is again faced with failure of one of its Independent Power Producers power generator. According to the press release (pic below) a 65MW gas turbine malfunctioned since Dec 5, and as a result the related 30MW steam turbine, too, is unable to operate. That is 95MW of margin taken out of the total capacity.

Your area could face power outage anytime soon, until further notice.

What this means is that SESB is currently in short supply of power. The state's maximum demand is about 830MW and SESB's total generating capacity is 950MW. With the IPP capacity of 95MW omitted, the utility company has only 855MW at its disposal, leaving no room for safety margin.

With this scenario, at peak hours, you could experience power failures as it is now 'waiting to happen' although SESB had activated the Demand Side Management (DSM). The DSM requires that large power users such as large factories, universities, big shopping malls, water treatment plants, etc will be asked to scale down on power usage (reduced business activity) or alternatively use their own back-up generator sets.

It is very unfair to ask business operators to run their own power generator as it costs a lot in operating expenses, when it is nothing of their fault.

IPPs have the social obligation to make sure power from their plants are supplied to SESB reliably. So is  SESB. The contract should provide for mechanism to strictly tie IPPs to this obligation. People understand that IPPs were asked to 'help' the power utility to supply power due to, probably, insufficient funding on the utility's part. But when equipment within the IPPs' jurisdiction fail too frequently, you start to question the adequacy of the contract:

Where is the safety margin?
Where is the scheduled maintenance program?
Why is the failure always related to emergency repairs?

But this will soon be over you say, because Kubota Power Plant (Tawau) and Kimanis Power Plant (Papar) will be completed very soon and this will take care of things.

I'll say you can have all the power plants in the world. If you don't take care of them with proper maintenance, believe me, we can still have as frequent power failure as we currently have.


Please, No blackout-Christmas

In the meantime, let's hope the festive season is not marred with a lot of power outages. "A lot" definitely does not equate to "better" in this context.

SESB to upgrade power supply in Kiulu

This should be good news for Kiulu folks.

Utusan Malaysia reported that SESB is in the process of upgrading the power supply system in Kiulu, among others include replacement of existing bare cable to the insulated type. I presume ABC cables for distribution.

Via Utusan Online -  Nov 13, 2012

Last year SESB aimed to supply power to at least 95% of the state population by the end of 2012 and as expected, it was warmly welcomed by the rural folks. I was in touch with the People's Development Leader (Kiulu) earlier this year and one of the reason some of the villages not supplied with power is that the existing overhead lines were already overloaded and needed to be upgrade. I took his word at face value.

Let's hope the upgrading exercise will then enable SESB to fully supply to this area.

Out of the nearly 60 vilages in Kiulu constituency, there are two more that have not been supplied (or should I say deprived of their basic rights) with electricity in Kiulu namely [Source: UPKR Kiulu]:

1. Kg Sinansag, 3.5km from the nearest pole & 4 km from Kiulu main road,
2. Kg Bambangan Baru, 2km from Ranau (old) main road.

I understand that consultants and SESB personnel have visited, estimated and gave a good-to-go confirmation to the relevant government agencies. What is so difficult with the implementation? Why the overlook?

Featured Energy Company: Wang Noi Power Plant

The Wang Noi Power Plant is located on the area of 280 acres at Wang Noi District within Ayutthaya province.

It is located approximately 70 kilometers north of Bangkok with total generating capacity in excess of 2 GW supplying power to central region of Thailand.


Wang Noi Power Plant n brief

The power plant is equipped with 3 combined cycle blocks, incorporating 6 gas turbines and 3 steam turbines. The official synchronization was completed in April, 1996 and the Commercial Operation date (COD) in May, 1996. The main fuel for plant generation is natural gas from two sources – the Gulf of Thailand and Myanmar. Diesel oil of 60 million liters has been reserved as supplementary fuel in case of gas supply interruption. The total capacity of Wang Noi Power Plant is 2,027 MW and the gross production from 1996 to 2011 was 147,428,708,433 million kWh.

An Inlet air cooling system of 20,000 ton is installed at Block 3 of the combined cycle power plant. The installation was completed in June 2012 and can further enhance the capacity by 70 MW to the gross generation. Wang Noi Block 4 combined cycle power plant is currently under construction. The project will be completed in June 2014 and will add the capacity of 785 MW to the present generating system.

Wang Noi Power Plant developed an emergency response plan by building a flood barrier during Thailand’s worst flood in 2011, that protect and saved the power plant from severe impact. This barrier was enhanced to cover 5 kilometers in length to protect the total area of 1.28 million sq meters.

Stage one of the CCGT. Photo: power-technology

Why Wang Noi Power Plant?

The plant is an example of power generation plant that promotes efficient energy utilisation technology, which carries out its operations in complete compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. From July 2007 to present, the power plant has given over ฿450 million (US$14.3 mil) to Community Development Fund and has carried out a wide range of social and environmental activities to develop and build better living for the community around it, such as, public health, education, occupational promotion, cultural conservation etc.

It has been accredited with ISO 14001, ISO9001, and TIS18001 certification. The power plant was honoured for its outstanding business operations for nine consecutive years since 2002 and is proud of achievement of 2 million hours of operation with zero accident.

This plant is also the site of choice for Technical Plant Tour by the organiser of the Renewable Energy World Asia Conference & Expo in Bangkok, Thailand early October 2012.

Worst blackout in history - Over 600 million people in India affected

Nation-wide blackout, affected more than half the population.

A familiar news to you? I bet my money you won't be totally surprised (although perhaps totally annoyed) by what happened in India yesterday.

This was the worst blackout in the second most populous nation's history involving more than half the country, as an electrical grid collapse in 14 states - then spread to a total 19. The incident deprived more than 600 million people of power. Some journalists put the figure as 620 to 670million people.


Massive traffic jam in New Delhi, following a power outage (one of the world's worst) that spread over half of India, July 31, 2012. Photo: AP/Rajest Kumar Singh


It is that bad, but how bad?

If you live in Sabah, Malaysia, you will understand how it feels to be deprived of power supply on a frequent basis. Recently in April 2012, we experienced a state-wide blackout for almost the whole day and in some areas, power was only restored completely the next day.

One hour of blackout is bad. What more with going through the day in total darkness; and added to that, a bonus of another half a day during the next.

In India's case, many were still without power on the second day. The blackout, one of the largest in global history by the number of people affected, dramatically underlined the concerns industry leaders have raised for years — that the nation's horribly inefficient power sector is dragging on the economy and could undermine India's longer-term ambition to become an industrialised nation.


What caused the blackout?

The power grid collapsed because some states apparently drew more power than they were authorised to do to meet the rising demand during the summer.

According to NDTV, the blackout was allegedly triggered after four states - Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan drew much more than their assigned share of power. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have denied they exceeded their limit, though. Uttar Pradesh is said to over-drew its quota from the Northern Grid by 1200 MW, nearly a third of what a city like Delhi is entitled to in a day.

Blackouts are a frequent occurrence in many Indian cities because of shortage of power supply and an old-fashioned electricity grid. Too bad, this the common excuse/explanation offered by the power utilities everywhere. That's us included.


And its implication?

Nothing!

There is no need to even look at 'what would its implication be' unless people start looking at the underlying problems/issues, such as what the New York Times reported:

[...] For a country considered a rising economic power, Blackout Tuesday — which came only a day after another major power failure — was an embarrassing reminder of the intractable problems still plaguing India: inadequate infrastructure, a crippling power shortage and, many critics say, a yawning absence of governmental action and leadership.

India’s coalition government, already battered for its stewardship of a wobbling economy, again found itself on the defensive, as top ministers could not definitively explain what had caused the grid failure or why it had happened on consecutive days. Theories for the extraordinarily extensive blackout across much of northern India included excessive demands placed on the grid from certain regions, due in part to low monsoon rains that forced farmers to pump more water to their fields, and the less plausible possibility that large solar flares had set off a failure.

By Tuesday evening, power had been restored in most regions, and many people in major cities barely noticed the disruption, because localized blackouts are so common that many businesses, hospitals, offices and middle-class homes are equipped with backup diesel fuel generators.
“This is a huge failure,” said Prakash Javadekar, a spokesman for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. “It is a management failure as well as a failure of policy. It is policy paralysis in the power sector.” [...]

Time to reflect

The situation and power supply issue in Malaysia, and particularly in Sabah is somewhat similar in the India case in the sense that we are facing shortage of supply and the generally antiquated electricity grid/equipment. We can always give excuses and say that we fare better when bench-marked against India but that would be more of a 'feel-good' kind of assessment rather than the absolute meaning of the word 'better'.

It's time to be firm and aggressive in dealing with power supply problems. Allocate more fund in the coming budget preparation as electricity is now a need rather than want.

Power outage: SESB vs SEB

I read with great interest a comment made by one of Daily Express readers published on July 22, 2012. If you still have your weekend copy, you can find it in the forum section.

A comparison was made on the two separate power outages in Sabah and Sarawak which happened in April 2012 and July 2012 respectively. It stresses the big gap in terms of how the situations were handled and of how much SESB is alleged to be lagging behind SEB. An interesting compilation is summarised as follow:

Daily Express, July 22

Just to clarify, SEB is Sarawak Energy Berhad, not as quoted, and it is the holding company that owns SESCO which generate, transmit, distribute and supply electricity throughout Sarawak. In a way, SEB is like TNB while SESB is like SESCO. But, leaving the organisational structure alone, every utility company has the same responsibility, that is to give the utmost care and service to its customers. After all what is quality if the bar on customer satisfaction is never reached.

I will leave it to you the readers to decipher the above information but to be fair to SESB, they did apologise promptly the next day during the 30 April 2012 massive power outage. The press release to offer the consumers thorough explanation was made much later and I suppose the writer was refering to this one when quoting '24 days after the event'.

Furthermore, 'Other event' should include a consequential load shedding excersice many hours after the initial 16-hours power outage on April 30. SESB was struggling to stabilise the power supply to a number of bigger consumers in the West Coast, particularly in Tuaran area. In our case there were places (end users) that had their power supply normalised (totally) the next day.


People can give explanation and choose to disagree, but from the comparison table, we can - without digging further - make some conclusions, or at least perception, among others:

1. Capacitive Voltage Transformers, CVT, contrary to what SESB mentioned in its press release, can cause little disruption to the supply of power.
2. We know that SESB is continuously upgrading its transmission/generation capacity, but we perceive here that compared to Sarawak and West Malaysia, it still has a lot to catch up.
3. Excess in power generated does not guarantee fail-safe operations. SESCO has ample safety margin in its power generation capacity but other factors will still cause outage. Note however, that they will have the luxury of better back up from other sources. Hence, the lesser power disruptions.
4. I have this nagging feeling that we in Sabah are 'fire fighting' rather than doing Planned Preventive Maintenance. The SEB case showed that we can carry out maintenance (unplanned emergency, or planned parts replacement) without putting the whole power network out of service. In other words, don't put the whole State without power just because of one small equipment failure.

A copy of the SESB press release pertaining to the massive power outage has been stored in this blog for future reference.

Let's hope for a blackout-free weekend ahead.


**UPDATE**: Responses by SESB as well as the general public - in the internet or print media - will be quoted/recorded in the Comment section. Do check it out.

Fancy a long Earth Hour this weekend?

There are few essential utility supplies you cannot afford to go without, such as:

1) water
2) gas
3) electricity

Or, should I rephrase the above and strike out electricity from the list, owing to the fact that electricity is not essential and its absence can be tolerated? Well, at least in this IT age, you shouldn't allow yourself to be deprived of these basic 'needs'. Needs because these are not merely 'wants' anymore.



SESB announcement posted on its website.


16 hours of blackout?

As far as schedule is concerned, many people will be without power supply tomorrow (June 23) beginning 10.00pm until 2.00pm the next day. That would be 16 long hours of blackout. And there goes my EURO football match between France and Spain! Affected areas include most parts of Putatan district, to part of old Papar road, to Kepayan including most parts of Penampang and Luyang, and the busy Karamunsing/Sadong Jaya in Kota Kinabalu.

But why 16 hours, and why the power cut in the middle of the night? Can we not do the maintenance works during daytime when people are not confined at home? This maybe acceptable thirty years ago but not today. Not anymore. You cannot just simply cut the power off and think that it is okay.

This is all about the tidak apa (it's okay) attitude some people are clinging on to. "It is okay to leave half of the city without power supply. It is okay if the services we provide is sub-standard. It's okay, people will soon forget about it." And the list goes on.


Be prepared to spend more and shorten the power interruption

Being the monopoly in the business, SESB should shoulder the social obligation to supply power with minimum interruption. Sixteen continuous hours is just unacceptable.

If the intended tasks permit it, break the job into several shorter hours. If it is not possible to be carried out in stages, then SESB must put a provision to deploy mobile generator sets to the affected areas. Quite surely, substations are equipped with the necessary switchgear to take-in power from sources other than transmission/distribution main.

This exercise is not cheap, and it may not be required or stated in the supply contract but you are morally and ethically obligated to do it.

I will be directly affected by this lengthy power supply shutdown and I am very disappointed by the way the utility company schedule its maintenance works.

HAVE A BLAST EVERYONE, AND ENJOY YOUR LONG EARTH HOURS TOMORROW!

SESB offers explaination on the 30 April 2012 total blackout

I would like to share what SESB explained in detail in one of the local dailies which is not made available in its website www.sesb.com.my. Some slight changes made on the text to simplify the article, but leaving the clarity and meaning intact.

Formally expressing its sincere apology, the company through its MD highlighted four significant aspects of the incident, namely:

1. What triggered the incident?
2. Why the 66kV Capacitive Voltage Transformer (CVT) failed?
3. Why it took a long time to restore supply in some areas?
4. The SAIDI figure integrity.

Typical 132kV main intake station (Pencawang Masuk Utama, PMU)

What triggered the incident?

The disruption to the supply system was initiated by a failure of a 66kV CVT at the Main Intake Station (PMU) Penampang at 3.23am. This had in turn caused cascading trippings to 2 of the anchor power stations in the West Coast totalling 290MW out of the 550MW load at the time of the incident. These had caused the relatively small capacity generating sets running in the East Coast at that time to experience overloading and their protection systems tripped them off also.

With the tripping of the 2 anchor power stations in the West Coast which represent >50% of the demand at the time of incident and the subsequent protective trippings of the small power stations in the East Coast had caused the Grid frequency to plunge to a critical level that eventually brought down the whole Grid, i.e. blackout. This is a standard fail-safe mechanism designed for any Grid operation to prevent more widespread damage to the other components under similar circumstances.


Why the 66kV CVT failed?

Having studied and analysed the event log available at the SESB State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) in Penampang by the engineers from TNB and SESB, it was found out that the particular CVT had experienced an intermittent and transient over-voltage. Unfortunately the intermittent and transient over-voltage which occurred in milliseconds was not readily detectable as it is not a standard power utility practice to install a real time monitoring facility for this type of equipment even for some bigger power utility entities. This had therefore been diagnosed to be as the reason for the CVT failure.

For the record, the failure of this particular CVT was the one and only incident in the 24 years of its installation. The CVT had been religiously maintained in accordance to the standard and mandatory requirement for such installation among which are:

i)   Last preventive maintenance, PPM: 2009 (5-yearly interval)
ii)  Last routine maintenance: 4 April 2012 (monthly)
iii) Last condition-based maintenance (thermo-scan and ultrasound): 9 March 2012 (6-monthly interval)

All the results from the latest maintenance activity as above had shown no anomalies. SESB also highlighted that the size of this CVT is of no significant relevance in the way it affects the Grid System operation because the manner in which an equipment failure affects the Grid System operation also depends on many other factors such as generation capacity, power transfer from one point to another within the Grid, generation balance within the Grid, the fault level it triggered and the generator assigned as the system frequency control at the time of incident besides not forgetting the exercise of a prudent economic despatch regime.

SESB said that it is definitely not an apple to apple comparison to say that the CVT to the Grid System operation is the same as a compass to a ship. It is more like a choked fuel filter on an engine of the ship which will cause the engine to stall and leaving the ship immobilised and stranded in the open seas until the engine is operational again.


Why it took a long time to restore supply in some areas?

As part of SESB's standard operating procedure, SOP, under such a situation, an established Emergency Response Plan (ERP) was immediately activated with the Managing Director or the Senior General manager (asset Management) being the Commander and the General Manager (System Operation) will act as the overall coordinator for the Grid System restoration.

Under such conditions the Grid Operation will be split into 6 independent islanding operations to facilitate safe, orderly and speedy restorations. The 6 'islands' are Patau, Pangi, Salut, Melawa, Sandakan and Tawau. This was what had been activated during the incident on the 30th April 2012. The extent in which supply restoration can be achieved in these separate independent islands depends primarily on the generation capacity compared to the load demands within the island.

If the generation capacity far exceeds the load demands then a safe, full and speedy restoration could be achieved. Conversely, the island in which the generation capacity is lower than the load demands, at best only partial restoration could be achieved in a safe manner. Full supply restoration could only be achieved once all the independent islands are safely connected to the Grid again with all identified generator achieved full and stable operations.

During the incident on 30th April, the first partial area restored was in Tawau at 4.20am, while the last 11kV feeder restored was in Balung, Tawau at 7.47pm. The main reason for the long delay to achieve full Grid operation was due to some of the generators had unfortunately not been able to achieve full, safe and stable operation faster. For this, a further analysis had been commissioned by both TNB and SESB engineers to ascertain the root cause which will also cover all aspect of generator start-up requirement such as, among others, auxiliary relay settings, gas supply conditions and gas to distillate change-over facilities on the relevant power stations, both which belongs to SESB and the IPPs.


The SAIDI figure integrity

Find out how to calculate SAIDI in my previous article.

SESB is required by Energy Commission Malaysia (EC), through regulatory compliance of one of the License Conditions, to submit reports on supply status on a daily basis. The actual official figure for SAIDI announced by SESB from time to time is that which had been endorsed by Energy Commission. Only EC can certify certain SAIDI figure to be officially taken as true number.

It should be noted that SAIDI is just one of the internationally accepted measure for electricity supply performance. Electricity supply performance is also the result of the existence of adequate basic infrastructure such as logistically balanced anchor generation sources and capacity, strong complete-loop transmission network as well as distribution infrastructure. Hence, highlighting the persistent efforts by SESB to implement projects in the East Coast to help create generating balance in the Grid System.


Prevention of recurrence of similar fault

To prevent future happenings of similar incident, SESB with the technical collaborations from experts in TNB had embarked to re-assess the network defence system to effectively and efficiently match the ever increasing demand in Sabah

Date published: 24th May 2012
Newspaper: Daily Express, Sabah

64 MW Kubota station to start operation in June 2012

The total blackout on 30 April 2012 is just one of the many power outages that Malaysians in Sabah have to endure. One of the many unresolved reasons for the frequent power supply interruption is the inadequate power generated by the utility.

Almost immediately after the massive blackout, SESB announced that, together with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), it is working hard to ensure the RM80 million Kubota power station in Tawau can start operating by June this year.

Tawau town (photo: malaysiasite.nl). Current power capacity is 64MW against peak demand of 80MW

64 Megawatts of instant power plant

The RM80 mil project consists of gas-fired turbine generator, with an installed capacity of 64MW and is expected to reduce the impact of power outages in Tawau especially if there were problems along the Sabah grid interconnection. Note that this interconnection is the only east-wast transmission lines that transmit power from west coast to Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and the whole of the east coast.

As such, apart from higher generating capacity, this east-west grid is of tremendous importance to SESB, financially as well as keeping its reputation intact. 

Something's not right? The headline is correct about the 64MW plant.

The person in the pic is Ir. Baharin Din. Not Abdul Razak!

Peak demand/load for Tawau at the moment is 80MW and is expected to increase to 96MW by 2015. Compared with the current generating capacity of only 64MW, the town and its surroundings are in constant dependance of 'imported' power from west coast. SESB said that the east coast is importing between 16MW and 164MW of power from the west coast daily. This will be another challenge for the power utility to juggle between the two coasts. Old equipments and transmission lines certainly add to the possibility of frequent power disruptions.

It is not that importing power from the West Coast is a bad idea. But with its operations put to the higher limit, SESB is risking recurrence of major power failures as the supply become unstable with the safety margin being 'sucked' by the importing power network (in this case the East Coast).

Tawau is connected to the main grid, with transmission lines length of about 550km

Can we still get the power by June?

With the recent news saying that one of the barges containing equipment for the Kubota power plant has been hijacked by pirates, we are now less optimistic about the June deadline.

It was reported that only one shipment, Wantas, reached Tawau port in mid-May while the other barge, Wantas VII that was ferrying equipment including a gas turbine generator belonging to TNB-SESB was hijacked by pirates sometime mid-April.

It seems that the wait for more stable power supply is on, at least for now. End of the year seems more like it but I'm happy to be proven wrong!

How do you calculate SAIDI

SESB power supply reliability issues

Tomorrow is the final day for the English Premier League current season. If you love watching live football broadcast like I do, you wouldn't want another statewide blackout tomorrow at 11.00pm Malaysian time, or at any time for that matter. 

However, Sabah's SESB is notoriously known for power failure during crucial times. Reliability is not in their dictionary, they are far from being reliable.

Typical main intake substation (PMU): Do you think SESB is a reliable power provider?

Since SESB takes pride of itself for having improved SAIDI significantly, one would be interested to know if the lower SAIDI figure (lower is better) is translated into better quality in actual daily experience. SESB's past 6 years SAIDI record is as follows (source -SESB website):

2006 - 4,030 minutes per customer per year
2007 - 1,986
2008 - 1,855
2009 - 2,867
2010 - 687
2011 - 494
2012 - 362 (as at April)

Supposing the 2012 figure did not take into account the statewide power failures on 30 April - 1 May, this year's SAIDI could probably surpass the 2011 figure.

System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI)

This index measures the total duration of an interruption for the average customer during a given time period. This is the most often used performance measurement for a sustained interruption and is normally calculated on either monthly or yearly basis.

SAIDI calculation

To calculate SAIDI, each interruption during the time period is multiplied by the duration of the interruption to find the customer-minutes of interruption. The customer-minutes of all interruptions are then summed to determine the total customer-minutes. To find the SAIDI value, the customer-minutes are divided by the total customers served.

Formula:

SAIDI = Σ(r_{i *} N_i ) / N_T

where:
.
SAIDI  = System average interruption duration index, (minutes)
r_i          = Restoration time, (minutes)
N_i        = Total number of customers interrupted
N_T       = Total number of customers served


Example:

What is the SAIDI for 30th April and 1st May given the following data? 

Table 1 shows each power outage, the duration of the outage, and the customer-hours. As of August 2011, SESB has 456,406 customers.

Table 1: Calculating customer-hours:

Date	Time	Customers	Duration (minutes)		Customer-hours
April 30, 2012	03:23	456,000	0.33 hrs	or   20 min	151,985
April 30, 2012	03:23	100,000	8 hrs	or  600 min	800,000
April 30, 2012	03:23	10,000	13 hrs	or  300 min	130,000
May 1, 2012	12:05	60,000	2 hrs	or  120 min	120,000
					1,201,985

From the table, the first outage was at 3:23 in the morning and 456,000 (approx.) customers were out of service for 20 minutes (0.33 hours). The 20 minutes was based on the statement made by SESB that the utility started normalising supply in stages as early as 3.40am that day. 

From the Table, customer-hours = 456,000 * 0.3333     (for the first power outage on 30th April)
                                               = 151,985 hours

Total customer-hours                 = 1,201,985 hours or    
                                               = 72,119,088 customer-minutes


Therefore, SAIDI = 72,119,088 / 456,000
                         = 158 minutes

This means that the average customer was out for 158 minutes on the 30th April - 1st May 2012.


For Malaysians in Sabah, SAIDI tells nothing but a number

1) Lower SAIDI recorded in recent years look nice on paper but did little to a better power supply experience in general.

2) SESB sets SAIDI target of 600 minutes in 2012. Take for example these states in West Malaysia, they achieved SAIDI of less than 80 minutes per customer per year in 2011:

State	Target ( 2011 )	Achievement  (minutes per customer per year)
Sabah	700	494
Penang	99	76
Kelantan	75	72
Selangor	74	61
Johor	99	78

3) If you are living in Sabah, last year you would have experience 494 minutes of power outage, or slightly over 8 hours for the whole year. Take this year's 30th April statewide blackout into account and you are already more than 8 hours without power supply. Expect double of that figure by year end.

Parting shot: Who verify your figures?

We now know how SAIDI is calculated. What we need next is transparency in terms of data verification. Someone has to look into the utility's method of calculating it, just like what is done in financial audit or quality audit.

SESB massive power interruption in 2012

If you are residing in the West Coast of Sabah, you'd understand what 'lengthy power failure' means.

Wait, you don't have to. The East Coast is no different. In fact, of all the states in Malaysia, Sabah wins hands down when you talk about figures for SAIDI. Not that it is something good. Several power failure in a month or even week is not something extraordinary.


Power outage too often for comfort

We had business visitors from Singapore early this month (April) and while they were setting up the multimedia projector, the power supply suddenly act against them and died for a good couple of hours. The standby generator set for the building was good only for several power socket outlets and we were without lights and air-conditioners for the whole duration of the presentation.

30-April 2012 is another day to remember for the wrong reason as well. At about 3.00 o'clock in the morning most parts of Sabah West Coast went without power and several places lasted until late afternoon. The worst thing is you don't know what is being done by the power utility company and their customer complaint lines won't help either.


I did this:

Called 15454, and was told: "Sir, you are calling from Sabah, so, please call this number 088-515000.

Called 088-515000, the line was engaged. After several attempt, finally there was ringing tone but no one answered.

Called the number provided in their new website (088-088 282699 / 282500). The lady at the other end of the line politely redirected me to 15454 because 'this is a complaint on power supply interruption'.

Called 15454, knowing that this will be handled by TNB, thousand of km away from Sabah. The person again asked me to call the number above. I told her I'm calling to ask for other numbers to call as 088-515000 seem to be unresponsive and that I we have emergency situation back at the workplace. The person said there's no other numbers other than this. Alright, okay, I'm done.

Screenshot: SESB will be experiencing power shortage until the 60W IPP resumes operation.


Power supply shortage vs. outage

While not speculating on the reason/s for the massive power disruptions on April 30 and May 1, the snippet from SESB website tells us that the power utility is currently operating at peak capacity. As at August 2011 Sabah maximum demand, MD, is 830 MW. The SESB installed capacity from its own generators is about 490 MW. Although no official mention on the total installed capacity from IPPs, the effect of the 60 MW outage is significant and the utility company is living on the edge trying to supply power to the current load distribution.

It will come at no surprise if there are more disruptions between now and May 10, 2012 whereby the 60MW IPP resumes operations, and June 2012 when the new RM80mil., 64MW, Kubota power station in Tawau is commissioned.

In the meanwhile, let's hope that SESB keep the public informed on the progress of power supply restoration on a daily basis, so that we consumers can plan our daily routine. Their new website is a good place to disseminate the information.

How about the large consumers?

As for the large industrial and commercial consumers, it is only courteous on the part of SESB to inform them in writing of major interruptions such as this one, and it is best to give them estimate on the expected date of full normalisation of power supply.

Note that almost all of the larger consumers have standby generator sets and they too, have to plan for fuel purchases and inventory during the interruptions.


TheGreenMechanics' two cents:

Let's work even harder for better power! (SESB's tagline: Working Harder For Better Power)

Lastly, I'll quote the MD's message: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"

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.

SESB Shocked by Tresspassing

Well, don't be! With appropriate tools, anyone can trespass any of the the restricted sub-stations.

I have conducted a number of investigations (not SESB properties) on stolen cables, station transformers, HT switchgear and their fittings and the people who stole these equipment are clearly those with some sort technical knowledge of electricity. They have special tools, or what we call dedicated tools for working with live apparatus.

It's about time SESB make full use of the internet, webcams and wireless communication to put 'eyes' on all the sub-stations. Perhaps they can start with the critical loads/clients and slowly cover the rest of them.

One of SESB's facilities near KKIP

As reported by Daily Express yesterday:

Kota Kinabalu: SESB was once again shocked by a trespassing incident at the electricity substation by some individuals who then stole electrical equipment in the substation at 1:57 pm on Monday.

Following this incident, power to Wisma Merdeka and Wisma Perkasa was immediately cut off for several hours until SESB employees managed to find the cause and replace the lost electrical installations, it said in a statement Saturday.

It findings at the scene also found a number of important installations for the supply of electricity to both buildings had been lost and SESB estimated losses of about RM10,000 due to the greedy and inconsiderate actions.

Electricity supply in the area was resumed fully at 5.30 pm on the same day. SESB once again sought cooperation from the public to immediately report to the SESB on-line number 088-282455, if they notice individuals who look suspicious and do not look like SESB employees working in the electrical substation/SESB premises.