KOTA KINABALU: Power supply to all areas in Sabah and also in Labuan was fully restored at 10.20pm, says Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).
As at 9pm, over 95 per cent of the power supply to over half a million consumers state wide and in Labuan was restored following the blackout which started earlier in the morning.
The Sabah power outage started at 11.05am after the transmission line between Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Sepanggar tripped, causing a chain reaction to three power stations.
Two of the power stations were located in Kota Kinabalu while the other in Labuan.
In the city centre here, most of the main streets were congested and police had to mobilise its traffic personnel to control the situation.
Similarly, districts in the east coast of Sabah were also to a near standstill due to the blackout.
All hospitals relied on generators to run its operations.
Power supply returned to normal in Labuan within an hour after the major blackout.
A hotelier when contacted said power supply on the island was reconnected by 12.30pm.
Sabah hit by blackout
500,000 PEOPLE AFFECTED: Power restored in stages by evening after 11.05am incident
KOTA KINABALU: A MAJOR blackout left Sabah and Labuan near standstill, affecting more than half a million people yesterday.
Businesses were left in a lurch. The blackout also marred efforts to promote the state as a premier tourism destination.
Power was restored by late evening.
Yesterday's incident was the second in 18 months.
The first was when an explosion at an electricity distribution station in Penampang triggered a blackout statewide and in Labuan.
At press time, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) had yet to determine the cause of the blackout.
Focus was on efforts to restore power.
SESB managing director Abdul Razak Sallim said the blackout happened at 11.05am.
"Power was restored in stages from 12.15pm," he said, adding that at the height of the blackout, 731 megawatts (mW) were lost.
"Following our experience from the last major blackout in 2012, we are employing a system where power is restored in six zones that we refer to as 'islands'.
"We started by reconnecting power supply in these 'islands' -- Melawa, Salut, Labuan, Pangi, Sandakan and Tawau."
The "islands" were locations of the main power stations in the state, he added.
Razak said an emergency response team managed to connect power locally without any effect to the main grid.
He said the cause of the blackout had yet to be known as the power transmission line where the fault originated had tripped a second time after the initial problem was rectified.
"We need to find out its cause. It could be due to a foreign object or the system itself," he said, referring to the 132 kilovolt (kV) transmission line located between Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Likas and Kampung Unggun in Menggatal.
The problem caused the main power station to trip in nearby Sepanggar before it triggered a chain reaction at the main power stations in Sabah and Labuan.
"When that happened, we moved into the 'islanding' mode and started restoring power in stages."
Razak said following the last major blackout, SESB had taken steps to improve its coordination of generators and lines.
He said the system was more stable but admitted that more needed to be done in terms of the coordination of its existing assets.
State Internal Security and Public Order Division chief Superintendent Ismadi Borhan said traffic policemen were dispatched to control traffic in major towns because traffic lights had stopped functioning.
"Among the critically affected districts were Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Penampang, Putatan and Tuaran," he said. Additional reporting by Olivia Miwil
Read more: Sabah hit by blackout - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/sabah-hit-by-blackout-1.464984#ixzz2qhxsymm6
