There is a major blackout in parts of Malaysia just now at 12:30pm.......chaos in Klang Valley as most traffic lights are not working.......

We called JB and they we're affected too. Melaka and Putrajaya are among the places affected. Tried calling Pablo but his handphone switched off

Electricity resumed at my office just half an hour ago.

Oh here's the breaking news from The Star:




Parts of Malaysia hit by major blackout


News Update by The Star News Desk

PETALING JAYA: Thousands of people in several parts of the country including Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Johor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan were caught by a blackout from around 12.30pm on Thursday.

Residents and those at work informed The Star that places such as Kelana Jaya, parts of Petaling Jaya, Ampang, Shah Alam, Klang, and Cheras were affected. Some parts in Malacca, Seremban and Pasir Gudang in Johor were also without electricity.

Train services and some handphones lines were down. Traffic lights were also out, causing fears of massive traffic jams.

Dozens of people who were lining up to pay their summonses at the Kuala Lumpur, Ampang, and Bukit Aman traffic police offices were also caught in a limbo when the power went off.

However, the blackout was a temporary one for some as power was restored in some places by 1.30pm, including Ampang, USJ, Sunway and Shah Alam.

When contacted, a TNB spokesman said the company was still investigating the cause of the blackout.

"The blackout is not nationwide and has only affected some areas in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.

"Some places have received power again by 1.30 pm and the restoration of electricity is going on right now.

"We are still investigating what caused the blackout and will update the media as soon as we get further information," he said.

Tripping in Kapar power switchyard cause of major blackout


News Update by The Star News Desk

KUALA LUMPUR: A problem at the Kapar switchyard at the Port Klang Power Station caused it to trip at 12.16pm, resulting in the National Grid losing 1,700MW, says Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

TNB Deputy president/deputy chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Hadi Mohd Deros said to avoid the whole nation from suffering a blackout, Tenaga had to carry out load shedding after that.


"This led to Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor experiencing total blackout. In the Klang Valley, this caused the KL East and Pudu Hulu intake stations to trip, causing outages in several parts," he said.

Power supply to parts of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Malacca restored


News Update by M. KRISHNAMOORTHY of The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Power supply to parts of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Malacca was restored by 2.30pm.

According to a statement from Tenaga Nasional Bhd on Thursday, power supply had been restored in stages in Kuala Lumpur from 1.40pm.

As for the other affected southern states Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor, it would take up to three hours to fully restore supply there, it said.

It said the areas affected by the power cut were Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Negri Sembilan and Malacca.

The power cut was because of a switchgear failure at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah power station in Kapar, Selangor, and that resulted in a loss of 1,700mw of electricity.

TNB deputy president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Hadi Mohd Deros said the tripping occurred at 12.16pm.

On whether the blackout was a result of sabotage by employees, he said preliminary investigations indicated that there were no such incidents.

"We are conducting a thorough investigation on the cause of the tripping," he said.

"I don't know how it happened. I am also puzzled," he added.

Power supply back to normal in all areas by 6.30pm


News Update by The Star Newsdesk

PETALING JAYA: Power in Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Putrajaya and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was been fully restored by 4pm on Thursday and Tenaga Nasional Bhd expects the other affected areas to be back to normal by 6.30pm.

A TNB spokesman said by 4pm power had restored to 60% of the affected areas in Johor, 75% of those in Malacca and 80% of those in Kuala Lumpur.

"We hope to restore supply to the remaining areas by 5.30pm or 6.30pm at the latest," he said.

BLACKOUT
by TV Smith

13/01/05



1:00 pm Thursday. I first sensed something was not right when I noticed the number of concurrent users at MyCen.com.my dropping dramatically. Jeff Ooi confirmed it by calling to say that Taman Tun and Shah Alam was hit by a major power failure.

DJ Joey informed me that the clock tower in JB was seen frozen at 12:27 pm. The Southern Grid from Tanjong Malim downwards is broken as we later learned.
The current blackout is cascading and has already affected major parts of KL, Selangor and Johor. The last major National Blackout was in 1996 and the last Grand Northern Blackout in 2003. There are some valuable lessons from those previous incidents.






What to do if you are in a blackout area?

• Stop calling Tenaga.
• Stop calling your friends and overloading the cellular network.
• Do not leave your home or office just to add to the traffic snarl.
• Preserve your vehicle fuel as the petrol pumps nearby cannot operate unless they have a genset.
• Do not send me a mail later to ask me how you were supposed to read this when there was no electricity.




What to do if you are in a non-blackout area?

• Cook the perishables in your fridge now.
• Start saving whatever you are working on the PC, if you have no UPS.
• Stay put.
• Don't plan on taking the LRT. The trains can't move without electricity.
• Prepare alternative lighting source.
• Save or conserve water as the pumps at the reservoirs will stop working too.




What we currently know:

• There is no update on the Tenaga site.
• The Star & bloggers was again the first with the news.
• Is is going to be rectified fast because Putrajaya is also affected.


© 2005 TV SMITH
Link to this article: http://www.mycen.com.my/duasen/130105_blackout.html

From Channel News Asia:


Power failure hits Malaysian capital, several southern states






KUALA LUMPUR: A power blackout hit the Malaysia capital of Kuala Lumpur and several southern states on Thursday, sending several cities into semi-darkness.

The country's most widespread power failure since August 1996, when peninsular Malaysia was blacked out for 14 hours, turned out the lights in Kuala Lumpur at lunch time.



Also affected were Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and the Klang Valley.

A spokesman for power utility Tenaga Nasional said the blackout was caused by a faulty switch in the Kapar power station in Selangor state, to the west of the capital.

He said power supply to all the affected states was restored in three hours, Bernama news agency reported.

Commuter light rail systems in the capital were down, but the airport itself and major ports were able to operate as usual because of their back-up systems, Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy told Bernama.

The fast train service from KL Central to Kuala Lumpur International Airport was affected as well as the light rail transit services, namely the Putra and Star lines.

A Malaysian stock exchange spokesman said the power back-up for its computerised trading system was up and running and the system had not been affected by the power failure.

Several parts of the Klang Valley, including Putrajaya, were affected by the power failure which occurred at about 12.30 pm, eye-witnesses said.

They added that areas like Damansara, Bangsar, Hulu Klang, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam in Selangor were hit by the blackout.

Power was also down in Kuala Lumpur's 88-storey twin towers.

Meanwhile, city and Selangor police operations rooms reported several locations in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were experiencing power outage, causing traffic lights at intersections to stop functioning.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik said that to prevent a nationwide outage, Tenaga Nasional had to limit the shutdown to the south of the peninsula. - CNA

Power restored after blackout hits Malaysian cities

By Channel NewsAsia's Malaysia Correspondent Melissa Goh




KUALA LUMPUR : A major power cut lasting close to three hours brought the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and four states to a halt on Thursday.

The outage, which struck at lunchtime, was caused when a faulty switch gear in a coal-fired Selangor power plant triggered a sudden load loss of 17 hundred megawatts.



National utility firm Tenaga Nasional said all of Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca states as well as parts of Selangor state were affected.

Tenaga said after a leak was detected in a circuit breaker, it had no choice but to isolate the entire southern region, or risk a nationwide blackout.

But bowing to public criticism, the company acknowledged that its response could have been faster.

Said Abdul Hadi Mohd Drus, deputy president at Tenaga, "We are not happy with our performance. We should have come back much much earlier; 2 hours 44 minutes is too long."

Minister of Energy, Water and Communications Lim Keng Yaik was prompt in addressing the issue.

In an afternoon news conference, he ruled out the possibility of foul play.

"I am confident with the security and robustness of our grid system. There are bound to be accidents to happen. Please refrain from speculation. Whether it's human error or 'sabotage', we have to investigate," he said.

Mr Lim gave the assurance that the authorities will look into the matter thoroughly.

Asked about compensation, he said there was no recourse for any losses suffered during the power failure.

Power was fully restored by Thursday evening.

The latest incident is a major blow to national utility giant Tenaga, which has been pushing to raise utility tariffs after oil prices soared.

Tenaga, which has come under heavy fire from the authorities, is likely to face an uphill task in obtaining the green light for tariff hikes anytime soon.

This is the second widespread power failure in two years.

The last major blackout in September two years ago affected the northern region. - CNA

Wei~ How come only Sze Hoong posting one? hehehehe :D:D
Wow, it must have been a mess with the blackout in big city like KL... Don't they have some kind of reserved energy just in case meh? Aiya I hope one day we'll have a nuclear plant in our country and then we'll generate electricity by ourselves instead of importing lah~

Wei~ How come only Sze Hoong posting one? hehehehe :D:D
Wow, it must have been a mess with the blackout in big city like KL... Don't they have some kind of reserved energy just in case meh? Aiya I hope one day we'll have a nuclear plant in our country and then we'll generate electricity by ourselves instead of importing lah~



I dunno leh....probably most of the forumers here aren't affected as most are overseas now I guess hehehe :D

We do have reserved energy as our IPP produces more than our consumption. It is the cascading/domino effect of the power failure that causes the shut down (if it is true according to TNB). So it is more of the hardware problem than insufficient electricity. Our country isn't short of electricity supply to begin with ;)

And Malaysia will not have nuclear plants in the future. We are a signatory of the Non-Nuclear *something*something Treaty :D and Malaysia is a non-nuclear zone. Furthermore nuclear power plant produces hazardous waste which is very difficult to store and since we do not have any desert or something like that, we can't effectively store em unlike the US with their Nuclear waste disposed stored at the Death Valley in Nevada :D

No.....we do not import electricity (I know a lot of rumours said so but it is not true). As mentioned earlier, we produced more electricity than we could consume ;)

We called JB and they we're affected too. Melaka and Putrajaya are among the places affected. Tried calling Pablo but his handphone switched off

What to do if you are in a blackout area?
• Stop calling your friends and overloading the cellular network.

LOL!!!!!:D:D:D

i didn't know about this untill this afternoon :bash:

I dunno leh....probably most of the forumers here aren't affected as most are overseas now I guess hehehe :D

We do have reserved energy as our IPP produces more than our consumption. It is the cascading/domino effect of the power failure that causes the shut down (if it is true according to TNB). So it is more of the hardware problem than insufficient electricity. Our country isn't short of electricity supply to begin with ;)

And Malaysia will not have nuclear plants in the future. We are a signatory of the Non-Nuclear *something*something Treaty :D and Malaysia is a non-nuclear zone. Furthermore nuclear power plant produces hazardous waste which is very difficult to store and since we do not have any desert or something like that, we can't effectively store em unlike the US with their Nuclear waste disposed stored at the Death Valley in Nevada :D

No.....we do not import electricity (I know a lot of rumours said so but it is not true). As mentioned earlier, we produced more electricity than we could consume ;)

Easy to store the waste lah, just dump all the waste at TYW and Pablo's house~ :D:D:D :jk:

Cops act fast during power cut

Friday, January 14, 2005
By BEN TAN

SPEEDY action by the authorities managed to save Kuala Lumpur and parts of Petaling Jaya from a massive traffic gridlock following a three-hour-long power outage.

Despite the congestion at the main areas of the city, traffic police personnel and City Hall traffic wardens swiftly guided motorists through the major intersections.

The roads that were chaotic were mainly Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Raja, Jalan Raja Laut and the Bukit Bintang area where lunch-hour traffic was at its peak which also coincided with the blackout at about 12.30pm.

Sri Wazni Asahar, whose office is in Menara Haw Par just beside the Jalan Sultan Ismail intersection, said traffic at the intersection was at a near standstill when the blackout occurred.

“Luckily, traffic police personnel were swift in rushing to the junction where they co-ordinated the traffic flow,” she said.

The 26-year-old communications executive said, like the others at her office, she decided not to go out for fear of being trapped in the congestion.

A check in areas bordering Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya showed that the congestion started from Jalan Damansara all the way to Petaling Jaya at the Eastin Hotel area and the commercial areas.

The main roads to Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Damansara Utama and SS2 were also congested.

City Hall traffic wardens who were despatched to Taman Tun Dr Ismail, which is under Kuala Lumpur’s jurisdiction, managed to smoothen the flow of traffic from Petaling Jaya towards Kuala Lumpur. The congestion was cleared by 2pm.

The jam on roads leading from Kuala Lumpur to Petaling Jaya also affected traffic flow in Bandar Utama.

Bus commuter Iqmal Harris Ismail, 29, said he was not affected by the congestion but his journey from Subang Jaya to Kuala Lumpur took longer than usual.

“The traffic situation was quite bad once the bus reached the city.

“I could see vehicles moving very slowly, an unusual sight at about 2.30pm.

“It took about two hours to reach the city. By the time I reached my workplace, it was about 3pm and power had already been restored by then,” said the office executive.

LRT commuters were also affected by the electricity outage which interrupted services.

http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/31traffic_140105.jpg&type=actual

Traffic at a standstill on Jalan Balakong in the Klang Valley as the power outage caused traffic lights to cease operating causing massive congestion on roads in and around the highly-populated urban centre.

http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/31laptop_140105.jpg&type=actual

One man is still at work while other office workers take a break as they wait for electricity to be restored at Kuala Lumpur City Centre on Thursday.

http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/01_klcc140105.jpg&type=actual

Office workers waiting for power to be restored at the KLCC.


http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/31_directing140105.jpg&type=actual

Seremban Municipal Councillor, Chow Wai Fatt gets on the road to assist in controlling traffic along the Kampung Baru Rasah junction.

http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/31immigration_140105.jpg&type=actual

The passport scanning machines at the Johor Baru Immigration checkpoint temporarily down due to the noontime breakdown in power on Thursday.

http://202.186.86.35/photos/sendbinary.asp?path=thumbnails/421/31_amcorp140105.jpg&type=actual

At this restaurant in Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya the customers sit outside where it is brighter while the cashier is using a candle to illuminate the till

http://thestar.com.my/archives/2005/1/14/nation/n_01candles.jpg

Sale staff using candles and a battery-powered laptop to conduct sales at a mobile phone outlet at the Kota Raya shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur.

Easy to store the waste lah, just dump all the waste at TYW and Pablo's house~ :D:D:D :jk:

i don't think that will be easy :D

Memalukan negara! Kesian those in LRT and elevators..or those who are relaxing at home on their massage chairs! :rant:

shi*t happens....just last yr, NYC was hit by a MAJOR blackout affecting parts of Ohio as well...goes to show that even in 1st World nations, this stuff happens. Still, it is detrimental to our image...

TNB Rules Out Human Error For Jan 13 Power Failure


KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd's chief executive officer Datuk Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, Thursday ruled out human error for last Thursday's power blackout, saying that it was precipitated by a gas leak which eventually led to the extensive shutdown of the Port Klang station switchyard, a crucial move that prevented a nationwide blackout.

He said the sequential tripping had led to the power failure.

"Prior to the incident, conditions in the national grid were normal," he disclosed.

But Che Khalib, in regretting the incident, apologised to all affected by the blackout, saying it has always been TNB's duty to ensure a continued and dependable power supply to clients.

An immediate and notable step is that TNB will conduct an audit and inspection of all installations as well as implement projects needed to enhance system reliability and maintenance and increase power supply.

He said this during a media briefing on the report of the power disruption affecting parts of the central and southern regions of Peninsular Malaysia on Jan 13, which was mainly technical in nature.

The report contained findings by its internal audit inspection team as well as those of Advanced Power Solution (APS), the independent consultants appointed to investigate the power failure which affected four states.

To further enhance power security and reliability in the future, he said TNB would increase its power supply in the medium term via new power plants within the southern region.

To this end, by May 2005, Phase 1 of the new Tuanku Jaafar combined cycle power plant at Port Dickson, with a total generation capacity of 750 megawatts (MW), would be commissioned as a short term measure.

Over the medium term, other new power plants in the southern region would come on stream and they include the Tanjung Bin power station in Johor, with a total capacity of 2100 MW, the second phase of the Tuanku Jaafar power station with 750 MW and Jimah Energy Ventures power station in Lukut, Negeri Sembilan with 1400 MW.

"These additional capacities located in the southern region will improve the demand and supply balance within Peninsular Malaysia and reduce the need for unnecessary large power transfers from the northern, central and eastern regions and vice versa," he said.

Che Khalib also said the central area reinforcement (CAR) projects were being implemented to strengthen and improve the reliability of the power grid network in the central region. The projects are targeted to be fully completed in 2007.

With the completion of these projects, he said the system arrangement at the Port Klang power station switchyard would be more flexible and secure.

Che Khalib also said a new national load dispatch centre, to be equipped with more sophisticated systems adopting the latest technologies, would be built to replace the existing one. The project is currently at the design stage and scheduled for completion by end-2007.

He said TNB had already submitted the report on the power blackout to both the Prime Minister's and Deputy Prime Minister's offices today, and that Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik was also briefed for one-and-a-half hours Thursday morning.

Asked why Putrajaya, despite having state-of-the-art facilities was also affected, he replied that "a smaller islanding scheme would be fully adopted to ensure that there would not be any disruption of power supply even if there is a disruption in the main grid."

"The system is a very close model to that being used in Tokyo," he said.

Che Khalib said TNB would also talk to people and companies, including members of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), on finding the best solution to overcome power failures in the future.

However, he was non-committal on whether TNB would compensate those who incurred losses by the power blackout.

Meanwhile, 165 companies in Selangor would file for compensation totalling RM43 million from TNB. However, Che Khalid said at the briefing that TNB had not received any claims to that effect.

Che Khalib said TNB was able to restore power on Jan 13 within the stipulated time set by the Energy Commission, which was four hours for small blackouts and 48 hours for major blackouts.

But TNB and the Energy Commission have agreed that the power recovery time be reduced to two hours for small blackouts and 12 hours for major blackouts with immediate effect.

According to preliminary reports by the independent consultant, he said the the country's electric power system was stable and at certain stages, was better than other developing countries.

However, the power outage was not something that could not happen as it had also happened in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore and Australia owing to unforeseen circumstances.

Last year, there were two outages in Singapore.

"The system that we use is equivalent with that of developed countries," he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) in a statement this evening said it would be evaluating the operational as well as financial impact on TNB and Kapar Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd (KEV) pending the results of the independent study conducted on the cause or causes of the power failure.

TNB's various Private Debt Securities carry long-term and short-term ratings of AA+ and MARC-1 respectively whilst KEV's Bai-Bithaman Ajil Islamic Debt Securities carry a rating of AA+ID, MARC said.

Shares of TNB, the biggest on Bursa Malaysia in terms of market capitalisation, declined from RM11.20 before the outage on Jan 13 to RM10.70 at the close of trading Thursday.

-- BERNAMA

Power Failure Caused RM40 Mln Losses For 126 Factories In S'gor


SABAK BERNAM, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- One-hundred and twenty-six factories in Selangor reported losses amounting to RM40 million following the power failure last month, and this is worrying, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo Wednesday.

He said the state government had asked Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to take immediate action to overcome the problem of breakdown in power.

"Power failures are more frequent now. I have met with the chief executive officer of TNB Datuk Che Khalib Mohd Noh and he has given the assurance that the problem would be overcome," he said after chairing the weekly Exco meeting at the Sabak Bernam District Office here Wednesday.

On the losses faced by the factories, he said the Selangor State Investment Centre had been directed to discuss with TNB the matter.

A resolution would be taken by both the parties but no decisions have yet to be made, he said.

On another note, Dr Mohamad Khir said the state government would not encourage the construction of hotels in village areas that have been marked as "Homestay" tourist centres. The building of hotels would not give the locals any returns, he said.

The locals would be able to earn well by renting out a room in their houses for RM200 to RM250 a day under the Homestay programme, he said.

"We are projecting that more than 1,000 homes from the various communities of Malays, Chinese and Indians would be participating in the programme by the end of this year," he said.

The programme would involve houses in the coastal areas, most of which are owned by fishermen, as well as the homes of Indians in the estates and traditional Malay villages, he said.

Currently there are 200 homes involved in the Homestay programme.

-- BERNAMA

Ministry: TNB not liable for blackout



KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd is not liable for the Jan 13 blackout which hit parts of southern and central Peninsular Malaysia.

There was no evidence of negligence on the part of the operators at the National Load Dispatch Centre and on TNB, the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

This is based on Article 17(3) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990.

Therefore, “any issue on rebate should be solely decided by TNB at its own discretion,” the statement read.

These findings were made after receiving and reviewing reports which the ministry had requested from the utility firm, the regulator (Energy Commission) and independent expert Advanced Power Solution, submitted to its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik. – Bernama