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Stray bullet root cause of power cut to 12 Bario villages

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KUCHING: A stray bullet has been identified as the culprit of the power supply cut-off to 12 villages in Bario recently.

A thorough investigation by Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) technical support team led to this finding.

Initially, SEB’s on-site technical support team in Bario had suspected the power failure could have been due to either a faulty solar battery or fuel-related device of its Bario Central solar hybrid power station.

A follow-up investigation, however, revealed that a stray bullet had damaged an aerial cable at a point about 7km away from the power station, SEB disclosed in a press statement issued yesterday.

“This was discovered when technical teams deployed from Miri surveyed the line route and discovered the damaged cable after ascertaining that the fault was external and not within the power station.The fault had caused initial tripping of the solar power system.

“During a switchover, the standby diesel generators were unable to run continuously as the main switch at the power plant continued to trip before the damaged cable was located and isolated,” the statement added.

In line with this, Sarawak Energy has appealed for cooperation from rural communities to ensure that electrical assets were protected for continued reliable power supply throughout Sarawak.

This was crucial as the state-owned energy developer and power utility accelerated its rural electrification projects to meet the State government’s ambition to achieve full electrification for the rakyat.

According to SEB, commissioned in 2015, the Bario Central Solar Hybrid power plant was built as part of the Federal government’s National Key Results Area under the Ministry of Regional and Rural Development.

Following completion, the system was handed over to Sarawak Energy who now operates the plant.

The power plant is designed for a load capacity of 750KW from solar power while current demand in Bario is currently 60KW, leaving ample excess capacity to meet growth demand.

SEB said the solar batteries were continuously monitored for the impact of ageing over their five-year lifespan.

“Back-up diesel stock is maintained at about 40,000 litres or three full tanks to ensure there is sufficient stock to meet Bario’sdemand for a period of three months,” it added.

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