Kota Kinabalu: The integrated maintenance work at Sabah Oil & Gas Terminal (SOGT) in Kimanis which was originally scheduled to begin from 1 Aug to 7 August 2025 has been rescheduled to Aug 5 to 11 2025.
Energy Commission of Sabah (ECoS) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Ir. Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahid said this was decided in a joint meeting between ECoS, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Grid System Operator on Wednesday.
It is to enable completion of repair works on damaged units belonging to Sabah Electricity and Independent Power Producers, reliability testing of the Independent Power Producers operations in Kimanis using diesel fuel, and also the completion of additional Battery Energy Storage System capacity of 40MW.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});The rescheduling will be able to significantly reduce the impact of power supply rationing to consumers in Sabah should it be needed for the stability of the Sabah grid network, he added.
“The integrated maintenance work at SOGT together with offshore assets is a mandatory requirement to renew the Certificate of Fitness (CF) by the Department of Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH) to ensure that the assets involved always operate meeting the stipulated safety standards,” said Abdul Nasser in a statement.
He said throughout this maintenance work, gas supply would be shut off to two Independent Power Plants namely Kimanis Power Plant and SPR Energy which will operate using diesel fuel.
“In addition, gas pipeline connection work for a new generation project currently being built by Sabah Electricity in Kimanis with a capacity of 100MW will also be implemented which can only be done during this gas supply shutdown.”
He said with the completion of this project in the third quarter of 2025 together with other generation enhancement initiatives, it will be able to increase the Sabah Grid generation reserve margin from the current 17pc to 30pc.
As a record, the reserve margin in 2023 was less than 10pc. This increase in reserve margin is very necessary to add resilience to the Sabah Grid in case of damage to several generation plants.
Abdul Nasser said apart from efforts to increase generation capacity (supply side), electricity users can also play a role from the load demand aspect (demand side).
“The easiest method is to use electricity in an energy-efficient manner and electricity usage that can be done after peak hours, which is after 9pm.”
It was earlier reported that load shedding operations will be carried out in Sabah and Labuan from Aug 1 to 7 due to scheduled maintenance work at the SOGT in Kimanis, which is expected to affect over 600,000 households.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Mohd Yaakob Jaafar was reportedly said that the maintenance work by Petronas will affect more than 200,000 domestic user accounts in Sabah and Labuan.
Yaakob said the process would also cause inconvenience to users in both regions, particularly during peak hours from 10 am to 10 pm, during which each area will face supply disruptions lasting one to two hours on a rotational basis.
