SANDAKAN – Four out of five containers containing equipment needed to temporarily stabilise the electricity supply in Sabah’s east coast arrived at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) today.
Parts for Emergency Restoration System (ERS) towers were transported from Selangor by the Royal Malaysian Air Force at the Sabah government’s request, said Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chief executive Mohd Yaakob Jaafar.
This is part of SESB’s plan to install eight ERS towers in Ranau, after two transmission towers in Kg Randagong and Kg Nabutan, there, were damaged by natural ground movements in December last year.
The damaged towers are important for the 275kV Kolopis-Segaliud Grid transmission line, which channels some 200MW of energy from Sabah’s west coast to its east coast daily.
SESB is borrowing the eight ERS towers from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) as a temporary measure while the state power utility constructs two new transmission towers on more stable ground in Ranau to replace the damaged towers.
On Facebook today, Yaakob said that the installation of ERS towers was according to schedule.
Of the four containers that arrived today, two touched down at 6am, and two more at 4.30pm.
The fifth and last container is to arrive at KKIA at 6.30am tomorrow.
“SESB team with TNB will construct these ERS in these two sites. If everything goes smoothly and if the weather is good, we target to complete the installation of these ERS by mid-March,” Yaakob said.
The two new transmission towers, meanwhile, are to be completed in early April and mid-June this year, Yaakob also said in a separate statement earlier today. – March 5, 2024