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Sultan Ismail power station decommissioned after 33 years

pix in btmediaprima

KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asia’s first combined-cycle power station, the Sultan Ismail Power Station (SIPS) in Paka, Terengganu has been decommissioned on December 31 last year, after 33 years of operation.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) said the decommissioning was inevitable as Malaysia was replacing its ageing and inefficient power plants to be more advanced, cost efficient and environmental-friendly plants, in line with best practices in the global electricity supply industry.

The 1,400 megawatt (MW) power station was completed in 1987 and officially opened in 1988 by Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah of Terengganu.

TNB said during the time, SIPS was the largest combined-cycle power station in the world. The cost of building the power station was RM1.5 billion.

“Sultan Ismail Power Station had left a lasting legacy in TNB’s history. When it was completed, it became the first combined cycle power station in South East Asia, and the biggest ever built by TNB,” said TNB chief generation officer Ir Roslan Abdul Rahman.

TNB said the power station generated electricity using natural gas and oil, with the former as its main fuel.

As one of the early users of gas from Petronas gas processing plant in nearby Kertih, Terengganu, SIPS had helped spur the oil and gas industry in the state.

Direct supply from Kertih through pipeline also rendered lower logistics costs for the power station.

Within its 33 years, SIPS had created job opportunities for the rakyat of Terengganu during its construction, and later through economic activities related to operation and maintenance work.

Local fishermen and keropok producers also benefitted from the growth of economy spurred by SIPS.

“During its service, SIPS has produced many skilled workers that benefitted from the new technology at the plant. The knowledge they gained at SIPS proved to be useful when they serve other power stations, including those of independent power producers (IPPs),” said Roslan.

TNB said the plant also brought benefits to the communities through various corporate responsibility (CR) programmes.

It said despite SIPS’s decommissioning, TNB remains committed to sharing its prosperity through various other CR projects. This included firefly conservation in Yak Yah, Kg Ibok, Kijal; Baiti Jannati, rebuilding homes for the less fortunate; and My Brighter Future (MyBF), a conditional bursary programme for students from B40 families.

The plant had also been immortalised in postage-stamp form by Pos Malaysia Bhd on April 4 1988.

SIPS’s 250 staff (prior to decommissioning) have been redeployed to TNB new power stations namely Jimah East Power Sdn Bhd in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan and Southern Power Generation in Pasir Gudang, Johor.

Until the last day of its service, only plant four of the power station remained operational. Plants 1, 2 and 3 have been decommissioned since 2017.

TNB’s other combined-cycle power plants are the Tuanku Jaafar Power Station in Port Dickson with two blocks of 750MW plants and Prai Power Station in Seberang Perai, Penang, with a capacity of 1,071MW.

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