2/15/2019 Tuesday blackout caused by Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating units tripping: EMA, Singapore News & Top Stories

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Tuesday blackout caused by

Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating
units tripping: EMA

Blocks in the Kembangan area shrouded in darkness, as seen from Windy Heights condominium on
Sept 18, 2018. PHOTO: DANIEL KUM

 PUBLISHED SEP 19, 2018, 3:34 PM SGT UPDATED SEP 19, 2018, 10:08 PM


Tee Zhuo (mailto:teezhuo@sph.com.sg)

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2/15/2019 Tuesday blackout caused by Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating units tripping: EMA, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits …

SINGAPORE - The extensive blackout on Tuesday (Sept 18) that affected close to 147,000 customers
was caused by the power-generating units of Sembcorp Cogen and Senoko Energy tripping.

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

EMA said preliminary findings showed that one of the power-generating units at Sembcorp had
tripped first.

A Sembcorp spokesman told The Straits Times that the power-generating unit that tripped and
experienced an outage was on Jurong Island.

“We have called in technical specialists from our equipment suppliers and are working with them to
investigate the cause of the trip,” the spokesman said, adding that the firm was keeping EMA updated.

The authority said that the stability of the power system requires the electricity supply to constantly
meet electricity demand. As Singapore’s power system operator, EMA is responsible for the reliable
supply of electricity to consumers.

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

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

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.

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2/15/2019 Tuesday blackout caused by Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating units tripping: EMA, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits …

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147,000 affected by power disruption

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: Boon Lay, Choa Chu Kang, Clementi, Jurong, Pandan
Loop, Aljunied, Geylang, Tanjong Rhu, Mountbatten, Kembangan, Bedok, East Coast, Ang Mo Kio,
Bishan, Thomson, Mandai, Admiralty, Sembawang and Woodlands.

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... We are fully committed to working together with EMA to ensure the security and
reliability of the power system in Singapore,” he said.

Experts ST spoke to said a number of reasons could be behind the power trips, but added that the
situation could have been much worse.

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2/15/2019 Tuesday blackout caused by Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating units tripping: EMA, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits …

Professor Choo Fook Hoong, co-director of the Nanyang Technological University’s Energy Research
Institute, said: “Overloading could be possible, but this is less likely given it was the middle of the night...
It is difficult to say for now, but faulty equipment or supply problems are two possible causes.”

Mr Teo Chor Kok, a fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore, added that supply, mechanical and
overheating issues could have caused the trips.

“The trips protect the generator when such issues arise. While they cannot be completely avoided, they
can be mitigated by regular checks and maintenance,” he said.

Mr Teo, who has 38 years of experience in electrical engineering, thought that Tuesday’s outage was
handled well.

“It could have potentially led to the collapse of the entire system, had it not been for safeguards put in
place by EMA to keep the situation contained,” he said.

There are seven companies which generate power and feed it to the national grid. While SP manages the
grid, it does not own these companies.

The seven power generation companies are: PacificLight Power, Tuas Power Generation, Senoko
Energy, YTL PowerSeraya, Tuaspring, Keppel Merlimau Cogen and Sembcorp Cogen.

Energy Market Authority

about 5 months ago

We are working to establish the cause behind the electricity supply disruption on 18
September 2018. Investigations are still ongoing but here are our preliminary
findings.

EMA.GOV.SG
EMA Working with Industry to Establish Caus…
On 18 September 2018, there was an electricity suppl…

24 4 68

EMA added that investigations are still ongoing and that it will look into additional measures that can be
put in place to minimise the recurrence of such incidents.

"We thank the public for their patience and understanding for the inconvenience caused," EMA said.

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2/15/2019 Tuesday blackout caused by Sembcorp, Senoko power-generating units tripping: EMA, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits …

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