A HIGH-VOLTAGE transmission tower that collapsed during a landslide after heavy rain on Saturday evening has been identified as the cause of a widespread blackout across Sabah’s east coast.
The tower, which was identified as Tower 5, was part of the 275kV Kolopis–Segaliud line, which transmits electricity from power plants on the west coast to intake substations in Sandakan that supply the entire east coast.
The outage, which began at 5.05pm on Saturday, affected Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, Kunak, Semporna and Beluran.
The tower located in Kampung Sarapung near the Kolopis Main Intake Substation in Penampang, gave way after days of relentless rain undermined its foundation, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) Chief Executive Officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said on Sunday.
Once the conductors fell to the ground, the line could no longer be re-energised, he added.
“When the tower slid, the wires touched earth. The system will always trip back in that condition, so it cannot be switched on again until the structure is rebuilt,” he told reporters at a briefing in Kota Kinabalu.
Mohd Yaakob said about 230,000 registered users, representing nearly 1.2 million residents, were affected by the blackout.
Around 70,000 of these users will continue to face rotational outages during peak hours until bypass works are completed.
In the meantime, he noted partial supply had been restored by restarting generation units in Sandakan and Tawau, but capacity would remain limited until a bypass from Kimanis to Sandakan is completed within two days and emergency towers are installed at the collapsed site within the next eight days.
According to him, more than 50 technical staff and contractors have been deployed to the site, working around the clock in difficult terrain where mud, fallen trees and damaged access roads have slowed progress.
A permanent replacement tower is expected to take around three months to build, he added.
“This was a natural disaster. Continuous heavy rain caused soil erosion that led to the failure of the structure,” he said.
The collapse is Sabah’s most serious transmission failure in a decade, recalling a similar tower incident in Lahad Datu in 2015 and Sabah Electricity is considering early-warning technology, including satellite imaging and geological monitoring, to detect landslide risks along its transmission routes, said Mohd Yaakob. - September 14, 2025
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