KOTA KINABALU – The date for Sabah to receive electricity supply from Sarawak has been postponed to May next year from November.
State utility company Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) is buying electricity from Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) with an initial import of 30MW to 50MW for 15 years.
SESB chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said the initial commercial operation date was supposed to be in November this year but has been delayed to May 2024 due to difficulties faced by SEB with completing its transmission lines.
“We understand the difficulties on the part of SEB because they have to lay a long cable from Long Bunut to Lawas, which is about 300km long. This is why the commercial operation date has to be next year,” he said.
Yaakob said SESB has completed 70% of the job with only 6km left in the installation of a 31km transmission line from Sipitang to Lawas.
“We are on track to finish it early,” added Yaakob during a briefing at the SESB load despatch centre in Penampang here today.
SESB is buying electricity from SEB with the aim to boost the state’s power reserve margin, with the agreement signed on August 6, 2021.
Yaakob said ideally, SESB needs to have a reserve margin of 20% to 30% to manage power consumption in the state.
Sabah’s current reserve margin is at 11%.
The supply will be made via a 274kV double-circuit transmission line spanning 31km, running from Lawas in Sarawak to Mengalong, Sipitang in Sabah.
The link is part of the Sabah Grid expansion initiative under SESB’s Cross-Border Transmission Project Plan, as well as SEB’s Northern Agenda, which will connect Miri to the northern Sabahan towns of Limbang and Lawas. – The Vibes, May 19, 2025
