PULAU TALANG-TALANG BESAR, Sematan, Sept 13: The internationally renowned turtle islands of Talang-Talang Kechil and Talang-Talang Besar as well as Tanjung Datu National Park now have renewable green, solar energy all year round.
Previously, these turtle landing sites used noisy, diesel generators, which proved to be a disturbance to the nesting turtles coming ashore. Besides limited operating hours and carbon emission, maintaining the generators also proved costly.
The RM1.5 million solar project (for Talang-Talang Kechil, Talang-Talang Besar and Tanjung Datuk National Park), which is part of Sarawak Energy’s corporate social responsibility programme, was commissioned in 2017.
Sarawak Energy was keen on this project as it wanted to promote the use of renewable energy and to support the management of turtle hatcheries in the area.
The project was made possible through an inter-agency collaboration between Sarawak Energy and Sarawak Forestry, stemed from an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2016 to enhance the turtle conservation programme and promote ecotourism of these landing sites.
The handing-over of the solar project from Sarawak Energy to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) was witnessed by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg. Also present were Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Stephen Rundi, Rural Electricity Assistant Minister Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi, Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment Assistant Minister Datu Len Talif, Tanjong Datu assemblywoman Datuk Jamilah Anu, SFC chief executive officer (CEO) Zolkipli Mohamad Aton, Sarawak Energy CEO Lu Yew Hung, Sarawak Energy executive vice-president (Corporate Services) Aisah Eden and Sarawak Energy vice-president (Research and Development) Chen Shiun. — DayakDaily
