KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) is unable to operate at full capacity due to technical issues and safety inspection by two major Independent Power Producer (IPP) companies.
Sabah and Federal Territory of Labuan Grid System chief operator Adrian Mosigil, stated that the first IPP company, Kimanis Power Sdn Bhd, had to shut down its 95 MW electricity supply to facilitate an inspection process by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH).
According to him, the supply closure was implemented for 14 days, starting from Jan 6 until Jan 20, 2024.
"Another IPP company temporarily ceasing its supply to the SESB grid is Ranhill Powertron Sdn Bhd. This was due to high vibration issues in the power generation gear. An emergency closure was initiated on Jan 14, 2024, involving 60MW of electricity.
"Ranhill informed that the repair works would take five to six days before resuming power supply to SESB," he said in a statement.
Adrian added that as of January 2024, SESB had the capacity to supply 1,177.3 MW of electricity in Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan.
He added that the peak demand for electricity reached up to 1,090.73 MW a day.
"In connection with this, the inability of Kimanis Power and Ranhill to supply power during this period caused SESB to lose a capacity of 155MW of electricity, leading to a critical decline in the grid system's generation reserve."
SESB hopes that all existing IPPs can consistently provide quality power.
This is because 80 per cent of the power supplied by SESB to consumers is purchased from these independent power generation companies, while SESB itself has a power generation capacity of around 20 per cent.
"Any incapacity of IPPs to supply power to SESB will have an impact on the reserve margin, which is currently below the 12 per cent threshold, resulting in power supply disruptions," Adrian added.
For the record, the Grid System Operator (GSO) is a department within SESB responsible for managing the grid system in a safe, secure, stable, and economical manner.
