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Blackout caused by units of Sembcorp Cogen, Senoko Energy tripping

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Two power-generating units owned by SembCorp Cogen and Senoko Energy identified as source

Tuesday's 38-minute blackout, which affected close to 147,000 customers from Boon Lay to Bedok, was caused by the power-generating units of Sembcorp Cogen and Senoko Energy tripping.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said in a statement yesterday that it was working with the two power companies and their equipment suppliers to establish why the units tripped.

Preliminary findings showed that one of the units at Sembcorp had tripped first, and the firm's spokesman told The Straits Times the unit was on Jurong Island.

Later, one of the power generating units owned by Senoko also tripped while it was ramping up additional supply.

"When a power-generating unit trips, the other units in operation will increase their electricity supply automatically," EMA explained.

The tripping of both power generating units resulted in insufficient electricity supply to meet demand.

Protection devices in the power system automatically disconnected electricity to about 146,500 consumers to "rebalance the system", the authority said.

In order to restore electricity supply, EMA instructed other standby power-generating units to provide additional electricity supply. These included unaffected units from Senoko and YTL PowerSeraya.

"The restoration of electricity supply was done in a controlled manner to ensure the electricity system remained stable. As electricity generation increased, supply to consumers was progressively restored over 38 minutes," it added.

Tuesday's power disruption happened at 1.18am and electricity supply was restored at 1.56am.

SP said that 19 areas in Singapore were affected, including Boon Lay, Choa Chu Kang, Pandan Loop, Geylang, Tanjong Rhu, Mountbatten, Bedok, Thomson, Mandai, Admiralty, Sembawang and Woodlands.

REVIEW

Mr Bernard Esselinckx, Senoko Energy's president and chief executive officer, said that the firm was working closely with EMA and the company's equipment supplier to review the incident.

"We are relieved that we managed to support the restoration of electricity promptly within 38 minutes with our other units," he said.

Sembcorp's spokesman said: "We have called in technical specialists from our equipment suppliers and are working with them to investigate the cause of the trip."

ELECTRICITY & POWER