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Tanjung Labian Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts23
Sources reviewed8
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Tanjung Labian is a multi-phase rural solar-battery-diesel system in Sabah's Lahad Datu/Tungku area, not merely the rounded 1.2 MW solar/1.2 MW diesel entry in the archive. The best detailed phase-1 vendor source reports 1,212 kWp PV, 4,320 kWh of batteries, 1,650 kW of combined inverter capacity, and 1,250 kW of diesel. A separate engineering table reports the diesel arrangement as two 500 kW plus one 360 kW set (1.36 MW), an unresolved source conflict. Later extensions added villages and capacity, so phase-1 ratings should not be assumed to describe the entire present service area.

Research status
The initial phase was commissioned around November 2012 and the rural-electrification contractor lists completion in April 2013, with three additional villages completed in June 2014. A 2015 field study found strong renewable penetration but also maintenance and remote-monitoring weaknesses. Sabah's current Energy Roadmap lists Labian among the state's solar-hybrid stations, while TNB/SESB says its portfolio of 35 solar-hybrid stations operates 24/7 and illustrates Tanjung Labian. These sources support continued inclusion in the operating portfolio, but no plant-specific 2025/26 generation, diesel burn, battery health, or availability series was located.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
4,450 kW
Coordinates
5.16626, 119.23212
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Tanjung Labian Microgrid?

6 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Energy Commission of Sabah (ECoS)

Current state energy regulator/planning body whose Sabah Energy Roadmap lists Labian among off-grid solar-hybrid stations. [7]

Organization

Leonics

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Leonics Co., Ltd.

Supplier of inverter, power-conversion, and microgrid-control technology; its technical materials provide the most detailed phase-1 ratings. [2][3]

Organization

Ministry of Rural and Regional Development Malaysia (KKLW)

Government sponsor/procuring authority under the Bekalan Elektrik Luar Bandar rural electrification program. [4][5]

Organization

One Alternate Energy Sdn. Bhd.

Lists completion of the Tanjung Labian BELB solar-hybrid project in April 2013 and an extension to three more villages in June 2014. [5]

Organization

Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB)

Utility/end user and operating organization for the Tanjung Labian solar-hybrid station and its village distribution service. [5][4][6]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
1200 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
1200 [1]
Storage
4320 kWh [1]
Phase-1 photovoltaic array
1,212 kWp. Leonics gives this exact rating; the legacy 1,200 kW is a reasonable rounded value but should not replace the documented number. [2][4]
Phase-1 battery storage
4,320 kWh nominal. Neither the accessible vendor deck nor the field study provides a dependable battery-cell manufacturer/model, usable energy, depth of discharge, or current state of health. [2][4]
Phase-1 inverter capacity
1,650 kW combined inverter capacity. A commissioning presentation further divides this into approximately 900 kW of bidirectional battery inverters and 750 kW of grid-connected PV inverters. [2][3]
Phase-1 diesel capacity
Conflicting published values: Leonics reports 1,250 kW total, while a 2015 engineering table identifies two 500 kW plus one 360 kW set, totaling 1,360 kW. The archive's 1,200 kW is rounded and does not resolve the discrepancy. [2][4][8]
Phase-1 customers
The engineering table reports 681 connected households. Leonics marketing describes approximately 700 families across seven villages plus a school, clinic, and government facilities; those denominators are close but not identical. [4][3]
Distribution network
Leonics commissioning material describes approximately 14 km of local distribution serving multiple villages and community facilities. [3]
Reported solar generation
Leonics projected or reported approximately 1.82 GWh/year from the PV plant. The source is a supplier presentation, and no current meter series was found to independently validate the figure. [3]
Extension phases
Public project records show a later three-village extension completed in June 2014. The 2015 study separately tabulates a phase 2 and a Sungai Merah/Tanjung Labian installation, but source-table formatting and overlapping place names make a single safe present-day aggregate impossible. [5][4]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery inverters

Leonics

Approximately 900 kW of bidirectional battery-inverter capacity in the vendor's phase-1 architecture; accessible material does not provide a model number. [3]

02

PV inverters

Leonics

Approximately 750 kW of grid-connected inverter capacity, supplemented by MPPT conversion for part of the array in an AC/DC-coupled architecture. [3]

03

Photovoltaic array

Model not publicly disclosed

Phase-1 array totaling 1,212 kWp. Module manufacturer, model, string layout, and current degraded capacity were not found. [2][4]

04

Battery bank

Model not publicly disclosed

Phase-1 bank totaling 4,320 kWh nominal. No reliable public cell chemistry, manufacturer, model, or replacement record was located. [2]

05

Diesel generator sets

Model not publicly disclosed

Published phase-1 totals conflict between 1.25 MW and an itemized 1.36 MW (2 x 500 kW plus 1 x 360 kW). No supportable maker/model attribution was found. [2][4]

06

Microgrid control

Leonics

Supervisory controls coordinate AC-coupled PV, DC/MPPT-coupled PV, bidirectional battery inverters, village load, and diesel backup. [3]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Hybrid architecture

    The vendor architecture combines AC-coupled PV inverters with battery bidirectional inverters and additional DC/MPPT-coupled PV, allowing storage and diesel generation to form and balance the isolated village grid. [3]

  • Renewable penetration

    The 2015 study calculated 85.4% renewable penetration over an 11-month period for phase 1, above a 70% design target. The authors caution that conflict-related displacement depressed local load, so the result should not be generalized as normal long-run performance. [4]

  • Reliability and user response

    Across the Sabah study sites, approximately 85% of users reported satisfaction and significant outages were generally less frequent than once per week. These are multi-site survey results, not a Tanjung Labian-only audited service-level metric. [4]

  • Maintenance weakness

    The field study found no permanently based technical staff at Tanjung Labian; technicians traveled from Lahad Datu, increasing response time. Satellite/web monitoring was unavailable at visited sites and operating-data gaps limited performance management. [4]

  • Current portfolio evidence

    ECoS lists Labian as an off-grid solar-hybrid station, and TNB/SESB states that 35 solar-hybrid stations provide 24/7 service while illustrating Tanjung Labian. This is persuasive portfolio-level continuity evidence but not a plant availability report. [7][6]

  • Current-data gap

    No public plant-specific 2025/26 records were found for annual PV output, diesel fuel, battery capacity, inverter availability, outages, customer growth, or replacement capital. Phase ratings should not be represented as a verified current aggregate. [7][6]

Provenance

8 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Inverter Technologies in Isolated Microgrid

    Leonics / Asia Clean Energy Forum · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Leonics 2 MW Stand-Alone PV-Diesel Generator Project Presentation

    Leonics (archived presentation copy) · Archived source

  4. [4]
    Improving Risk Management for Utility PV-Battery-Diesel Mini-grid Projects in Sabah, Malaysia

    Hazelton, Bruce and MacGill / engineering conference paper · Secondary research

  5. [5]
    Our Milestones

    One Alternate Energy Sdn. Bhd. · Primary source

  6. [6]
    TNB & SESB: Lighting the Islands

    Tenaga Nasional Berhad / Sabah Electricity · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Sabah Energy Roadmap and Master Plan 2040

    Energy Commission of Sabah · Primary source

  8. [8]
    Tanjung Labian - archived legacy record

    Microgrid Projects via Internet Archive · Archived source

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