SANDAKAN – The risk of a major blackout in Sabah’s east coast following damage to two transmission towers in Ranau underscores the urgency of implementing the Southern Link project.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said the towers are in critical condition, and it is alarming for the 275kV Kolopis-Segaliud Grid transmission line, as it plays a pivotal role in channelling approximately 200MW of energy from the west coast to the east coast of Sabah daily.
“Any structural compromise to this tower could jeopardise the entire electricity supply to the east coast of Sabah,” he said in his Facebook post yesterday.
He said this is why the government must speed up the implementation of the Southern Link project, which would connect electricity from the west (Sipitang) to the east (Tawau).
“If there are other natural occurrences such as this one – land movement – then at least we still have a backup line to supply electricity from the west coast to the east coast,” Tangau said.
A recent inspection by SESB discovered that sedimentation and active land movement around the site of the 275kV transmission tower had caused damage to the towers.
The Southern Link project, which costs RM1.4 billion, is an alternative primary grid that will connect Sabah’s east and west coasts with a transmission line that will complete the 275kV ring system grid in Sabah.
The Southern Link is important in protecting the stability of Sabah’s power grid while meeting the need for a high-voltage link to transfer more power from large-scale power plants into the Sabah grid beginning in 2017.
The first 60km of the project will commence this year, while the remaining 300km is pending funding approval from the government.
Meanwhile, Tangau said before the discovery that SESB had been conducting meticulous planning and extensive soil investigations to ascertain the condition of the towers.
However, they were confronted with the unpredictable forces of nature, and the soil beneath the affected towers had eroded.
Following this development, SESB took swift action to carry out emergency works to repair the two transmission towers as well as to install temporary diversion towers and the Emergency Restoration System (ERS) at the site.
A total of eight ERS towers will be installed in the two locations, five of which will be borrowed from Tenaga Nasional Bhd, which will be transported from Selangor with the help of the Royal Malaysian Air Force soon.
The existing 275kV Kolopis-Segaliud transmission line tower is also being relocated to more stable ground.
Tangau said relocation work, which started on February 7, is expected to be completed in five weeks, by early April.
SESB has been conducting its surveillance and maintenance schedule on all 10,000 towers in the state every three months, which was when the critical condition of the towers in Ranau was recently detected.
The Department of Minerals & Geosciences Malaysia has also assisted SESB in identifying new sites for transmission line towers, ensuring a more stable foundation for future infrastructure.
However, this is a lesson to be learned for the people of Sabah, said Tangau.
Sabah’s east coast consists of several large districts, including Sabah’s second and third largest cities, Sandakan and Tawau, as well as other districts like Semporna, Kinabatangan, Beluran, Telupid, and Lahad Datu, among others. – March 4, 2024