By Ling Hui
KUCHING, May 10: The Sarawak government will not commission any more coal-fired power plants in Sarawak after Balingian, says the Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said the Balingian Power Station will be the last fossil fuel power station in the region as Sarawak pursues new technology to generate renewable energy from natural resources.
“I have announced that the Balingian Power Station – commissioned in 2019, is the last of Sarawak’s coal-fired power plants. It is going to be the last, no more coal-fired (power plants in Sarawak).
“While Sejingkat’s plant has been known as the first. This is the first, Balingian’s is the last. After that, no more,” he said when launching Sarawak’s first industrial microalgae production facility at Sarawak Energy’s Sejingkat Power Plant here today.
Abang Johari said Sarawak is moving towards decarbonisation by progressing the Green Energy Agenda that will build a sustainable future through carbon emissions reduction.
He said Chitose Group, the primary contractor for the Sejingkat microalgae research project, has paved the way for a new business model by setting up a consortium called Microalgae Towards a Sustainable and Resilient Industry (Matsuri) in Japan.
“As I understand, it is the world’s first joint project to develop a society based on just algae. Imagine, we are producing or developing a society on ‘lumut’,” he added.
The Matsuri consortium enlisted more than 50 companies and some public organisations including the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) that is involved in the partnership.
With the new business collaboration framework, Abang Johari believed that the algae industry has a good potential to be viable in the long-term. — DayakDaily
