Sabah Electricity chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau has warned that Pulau Banggi’s hybrid energy system is on the verge of collapse, with aging machinery and rising demand pushing the island’s power supply to breaking point.

“Two of the main diesel generators have been operating for more than 15 years. They are outdated and frequently break down. 

“We can’t guarantee consistent supply under these conditions,” he wrote on his Facebook page after visiting the island on Wednesday. 

Tangau said peak nighttime demand has now reached 932 kilowatts, but the island’s infrastructure — which includes solar panels and diesel engines — is no longer reliable due to years of wear and degradation.

He also noted that the population of Banggi island has reached over 30,000 and demand has  increased over the period. 

“The system was built to last, but it was never meant to run this long without major upgrades,” he said.

Phase 1 of the rural electrification project on Pulau Banggi began in 2009 with a 200kWp solar-diesel hybrid system. This was later expanded under Phase 2, completed in 2014, which added 1,000kWp of solar panels and five diesel generators with a combined capacity of 1,450kW. 

Two more diesel units — each 1,000kW — were added in 2017 and 2024, bringing the diesel capacity to 2,000kW. However, despite the total installed capacity exceeding 2,600kW, the system is no longer able to meet the island’s peak load of 932kW consistently due to aging equipment, degraded panels, worn-out batteries, and frequent generator failures.

Tangau said most of the components — from the battery storage units to solar panels and cabling — have deteriorated.

“Some of the solar panels can’t even absorb sunlight effectively anymore. And the storage batteries have lost much of their capacity,” he said.

Sabah Electricity deployed two newer diesel units in 2017 and 2024 to reduce the load on older machines, but these efforts, Tangau said, are no longer sufficient.

“We are patching holes on a sinking ship. What we need is federal support for a full system upgrade,” he said.

Sabah Electricity is preparing to present a technical report to the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development on June 3 where a follow-up meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would be held. 

The energy crisis on the islands has become the bone of contention between two major political parties in Sabah. 

Earlier this week, Sabah Bersatu’s women’s chief Rahimah Majid accused the federal government of abandoning multiple rural solar projects in the Banggi area and Balambangan Island. 

She named four locations — Pulau Tanjung Manawali, Pulau Tigabu, Kampung Kok Simpul, and Kampung Selamat in Pulau Balambangan — claiming they had been left incomplete despite being launched as far back as 2017.

But Libaran MP Datuk Suhaimi Nasir hit back, accusing Rahimah of twisting facts for political mileage. 

He said the original hybrid system on Pulau Banggi was completed in 2015 and handed over to Sabah Electricity for operation — meaning any current breakdowns are SESB’s to fix, not the federal ministry’s.

As for the villages Rahimah mentioned, Suhaimi clarified that Pulau Tigabu and Kampung Selamat fall under a different solar project — the Sistem Solar Hibrid Pulau-Pulau Terpencil Negeri Sabah — which is still being implemented and currently 85% complete. 

He said delays have occurred, and action is being taken, including plans to terminate the contractor for failing to meet deadlines.

However, Suhaimi did not directly address the status of Pulau Tanjung Manawali and Kampung Kok Simpul, leaving questions about their classification and progress unanswered.

The back-and-forth reflects a larger political blame game — one that continues to unfold while rural communities wait for the lights to come back on.

These projects have not been handed to Sabah Electricity and therefore still under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry supervision. 

This ministry is under Zahid Hamidi’s ministerial portfolio. 

Both Bersatu and Umno are political rivals at the federal level.  

Tangau, meanwhile, is urging all sides to focus on solutions while not touching on the issues raised by both political groups. 

“This isn’t about scoring political points. People here just want stable electricity. And that requires investment — not just arguments,” he said.

He added that the problem extends beyond Banggi but also other islands where there are inhabitants. 

“We operate similar systems on 16 other islands — nine in Semporna, six in Sandakan. Many of them are in the same condition.”

“We can’t delay this any longer. Lives and livelihoods depend on reliable electricity,” said Tangau.  – May 28, 2025