Sarawak blackout may have been triggered by Bakun plant, says Sarawak Energy CEO

The Star 28 Jun 13;

KUCHING: The blackout in Sarawak may have been triggered by a frequency drop originating from the Bakun hydro-electric plant, said Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) chief executive officer Torstein Dale Sjotveit.

He said the system trip led to a total failure of SEB's system and all its power stations were down, including at Sejingkat in Kuching, Batang Ai, the Mukah coal plant as well as the Bintulu and Miri gas plants.

"The reasons for the incident that started at 5.36 pm yesterday are still not fully known, but with the facts retrievable as of now it looks like the frequency drop may have originated from the Bakun hydro-electric plant," he said in a press statement.

Over two million people in Sarawak were affected by the statewide blackout caused by tripped circuits at the Kemena-Bintulu transmission lines at 5.40pm.

However, the operator of the Bakun Dam said Thursday that said the source of the electricity disruption was not from the dam.

Bakun Dam chief engineer Zulkifle Osman, when contacted by The Star, said there was no serious technical breakdown of the dam's machines.

Sarawak endures worst ever blackout
Raynore Mering The Star 28 Jun 13;

KUCHING: Power supply finally came rolling back to Sibu at about 11.30pm Thursday night after it spent some seven hours of darkness as a result of Sarawak's worst blackout so far this year.

The power interruptions started at 5.40pm after circuits at the Kemena-Bintulu transmission power line tripped.

At about 7pm, the first signs that supply was being restored were seen in several neighbourhoods here when their lights suddenly flickered back to life.

A SESCO spokesperson said an investigation into the cause of the power disruption was being carried out and they would inform the public when more information was available.

The blackout caused severe traffic jams in the major urban centres of the state and caused huge losses for many businesses.

The fact is that power supply interruptions are not unusual in Sarawak. The state had experienced several blackouts last year with the longest lasting about three hours.

Responding to public outrage, Sarawak Energy Bhd had said in November that it was taking serious measures to mitigate the power interruptions, including reinforcing the transmission system.

It said a second state power grid was under construction and was scheduled for completion in 2015.

“With the completion of this second grid, the state will be well protected against the incidence of system blackout,” the company said.

Sarawak plunged into darkness at peak hour
Stephen Then and Raynore Mering The Star 28 Jun 13;

KUCHING: Sarawak was plunged into darkness, causing massive traffic jams and bringing business here and in other major towns to a sudden standstill.

Sarawak Energy Bhd said the electricity disruption was due to tripped circuits at the Kemena-Bintulu transmission power line at 5.40pm yesterday.

“Our engineers and technicians are working to restore power, and we are doing everything within our capacity to restore power as soon as possible,” it said in a statement.

The blackout could not have occurred at a worse time.

When traffic lights suddenly stopped during the rush hour, there was chaos.

At least one multi-vehicle pile-up was reported at a junction here.

By 7pm, the power supply was returning to some areas in the outskirts of Kuching.

But as of 9pm, most of the state was still in darkness with some even blaming Bakun Dam for the blackout.

In Miri, the dam's operators said they had nothing to do with the outage.

Bakun Dam chief engineer Zulkifle Osman said: “Every one of our machinery is in good working condition, and we did not face any major technical breakdown before the blackout.

“We ourselves are affected by the blackout because the disruption in supply along the state's main grid also triggered a trip in Bakun,” he said.

“We are still trying to churn out a small amount of electricity from the Bakun turbines while trying to figure out where the main source of the disruption is,” Zulkifle said.

“The cause of the blackout could be along any point of the main grid.”

Assistant State Minister for Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin said he had received a message from Sarawak Energy Miri office that it would “take some time” before full electricity supply could be restored to every part of the state.

Sarawak blackout triggered by Bakun
Sharon Ling The Star 29 Jun 13;

KUCHING: A sudden drop of 456MW in the power supply at the Bakun hydroelectric plant has been identified as the cause of Thursday evening's blackout in Sarawak.

Apologising for the incident, Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) chief executive officer Torstein Dale Sjotveit said that an investigation would be carried out with the support of third parties, including Bakun operator Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, to ensure that it would not recur.

He said that the outage occurred at 5.36pm when a serious and unexpected frequency drop in the system, originating from Bakun, led to the shutdown of SEB's power stations in Sejingkat, Batang Ai, Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.

“Just before this incident, the system had a total load demand and supply of 1,555MW. Bakun, which at the time had a load of 884MW, dropped its load by 456MW in 10 seconds, causing a serious frequency drop to below 47.5hz in the system. The normal operating frequency in Sarawak is at 50hz.

“All power stations have automatic tripping when the frequency drops. As a consequence of the drop in load from Bakun and the frequency drop, all the power stations tripped. In addition, the transmission system between the south and north of Sarawak also tripped. This is termed as a no recovery situation',” he told a press conference at SEB headquarters here yesterday.

Sjotveit said that SEB initiated its blackout restoration plan within 10 minutes of the outage to start up its generation plants, with the Batang Ai hydroelectric plant being restarted at 5.53pm, Tun Abdul Rahman power station at 5.56pm, Bintulu power station at 6.21pm and Miri at 7.45pm.

He said Bakun was only able to be synchronised to the grid after 10pm.

The delay meant that two power islands were created in north and south Sarawak, leading to a serious delay in restoring power supply to Sibu.

“When we have a system split like this, it's quite difficult to synchronise everything again because if the system is not in balance, you may face another collapse. We were struggling for quite a few hours before it was possible to do so.

“But by 11.30pm we were able to re-establish the connection between south and north Sarawak and all loads were fully restored by 2.07am on Friday,” he said.

He also gave his assurance that the system was now stable and all possible measures had been taken to ensure that it did not happen again, adding that SEB had a team on site at Bakun to sample the data and establish the facts of the case.

On losses and possible compensation, Sjotveit said SEB had so far not held any discussions with the business community on their losses, adding that the company's practice was not to provide compensation unless it was in serious breach of normal operating procedures.

Meanwhile, the state Public Utilities Ministry will investigate the cause of the blackout and the mitigation measures to avoid such occurrences in the future.