KUCHING: The Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) has commissioned a new 33 kilovolt (kV) substation in Petanak area here to cater for
the increasing load demand from commercial and residential customers within the area.
Its vice president Lu Yew Hung said the Petanak substation involved an investment of RM11.5 million and was operational since March 10, this year.
“SEB will continue to build more substations and transmission lines to enhance and strengthen its power supply reliability.
“It will spend approximately RM300 million every year in this direction,” he said in a statement here today.
Lu said of the amount, RM250 million would be used to build new distribution substations and lines as well to upgrade heavily loaded transformers and overhead lines.
“The balance of RM50 million is for basic substations and overhead lines as well as for maintenance, including vegetation clearing,” he said.
Lu said among other major upgrading works and new facilities in SEB pipelines were the 33/11 kV Tabuan Tranquility, Stakan and Kuching International Airport 2 substations.
“They are scheduled for commission this year,” he said.
He said another project on a very big scale was the 500 kV backbone transmission grid beginning from Similajau in Bintulu in the north until Tondong in Lundu in the state’s southernmost tip.
“When completed by middle of this year, it will provide a second transmission backbone to transmit electricity from the major generation power plants concentrated in the north of the state to customers, particularly those in the more densely populated southern region like Kuching city.
SEB embarked on this RM2.7 billion infrastructure upgrading project in October 2013.
It runs parallel to the present 275kV transmission grid which is about 30 years old. -BERNAMA