M'sia power outage plunges 2 million into darkness
Monday, August 11, 2008
A SIX-HOUR power failure across Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island caused chaos and plunged more than two million people into darkness, reports said yesterday.
The electricity outage hit on Saturday evening, darkening cities and towns across the state and causing massive traffic jams as signals failed.
"The state government wants to find out the source of the massive blackout. We need to know exactly," Deputy Chief Minister George Chan told The Star newspaper, describing the blackout as unprecedented in the state.
A Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation official told the daily that it believed the cause of the outage was a fault along the main power grid between the towns of Sibu and Bintulu.
Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said yesterday he wanted an immediate investigation into the blackout.
Taib said he would direct State Secretary Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot to compile a comprehensive report on the incident to prevent a recurrence.
"I have yet to receive a detailed report on the incident," he told reporters after witnessing the close of the sixth round of the Cub Prix Malaysia Petronas AAM Sprinta Championship at the Sarawak Stadium.
Taib noted that Sarawak's power supply was adequate for domestic and industrial use and that investors had not complained on any power crisis. Meanwhile, initial investigations by the Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation Berhad (Sesco) has indicated the blackout does not smack of sabotage.
State Public Utilities Minister Tengah Ali Hasan said a trip in the power generators at the Batang Ai hydroelectric dam and Sejingkat Power Corporation (SPC) due to insufficient generation capacity was identified as the cause of the blackout at 6.45pm.
Awang Tengah, who is also second minister of planning and resource management, said: "It is purely a technical problem and every effort is being undertaken to avoid the recurrence of the tripping incident," he told reporters after attending a briefing by senior Sesco officials at the Sesco headquarters here.
"There is no fault in the overall system and the only suspect was the operational malfunctioning of the over-current production relay at the Selangau 275 kV substation, which was de-activated."
Agencies
The electricity outage hit on Saturday evening, darkening cities and towns across the state and causing massive traffic jams as signals failed.
"The state government wants to find out the source of the massive blackout. We need to know exactly," Deputy Chief Minister George Chan told The Star newspaper, describing the blackout as unprecedented in the state.
A Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation official told the daily that it believed the cause of the outage was a fault along the main power grid between the towns of Sibu and Bintulu.
Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said yesterday he wanted an immediate investigation into the blackout.
Taib said he would direct State Secretary Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot to compile a comprehensive report on the incident to prevent a recurrence.
"I have yet to receive a detailed report on the incident," he told reporters after witnessing the close of the sixth round of the Cub Prix Malaysia Petronas AAM Sprinta Championship at the Sarawak Stadium.
Taib noted that Sarawak's power supply was adequate for domestic and industrial use and that investors had not complained on any power crisis. Meanwhile, initial investigations by the Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation Berhad (Sesco) has indicated the blackout does not smack of sabotage.
State Public Utilities Minister Tengah Ali Hasan said a trip in the power generators at the Batang Ai hydroelectric dam and Sejingkat Power Corporation (SPC) due to insufficient generation capacity was identified as the cause of the blackout at 6.45pm.
Awang Tengah, who is also second minister of planning and resource management, said: "It is purely a technical problem and every effort is being undertaken to avoid the recurrence of the tripping incident," he told reporters after attending a briefing by senior Sesco officials at the Sesco headquarters here.
"There is no fault in the overall system and the only suspect was the operational malfunctioning of the over-current production relay at the Selangau 275 kV substation, which was de-activated."
Agencies
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