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By Ashley Sim and Karen Bong
KUCHING, Sept 6: Sarawak is exploring the possibility of building cascading dams to enhance its power generation capabilities, taking inspiration from successful models in in Tasmania, the Nordic countries and Europe.
To bolster the region’s energy security through renewable resources, Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg added that Sarawak would also explore the use of wood pallets from biomass to produce energy, similar to the approach employed in the United Kingdom (UK), where the largest wood pallet station produces about 2,500MW of energy.
“Since Sarawak has a lot of degraded forests, we have programmes to replant our degraded forests with fast growing trees. These will be the feedstock for wood pallets and other biomass (sources).
“This is something new, excluding the ones (hydropower resources and ongoing projects) to produce 20,000MW. This means Sarawak has potential to produce more than 20,000MW of renewable energy,” he when addressing the Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum (SAREF) 3.0 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today.
Earlier, Abang Johari mentioned that a study commissioned in the 1960s indentified 20,000MW of hydro potential in Sarawak.
“But futher studies indicated that there are 12 prospective hydropower sites, with a potential of 8,000MW – ensuring that we would have an abundant supply of reliable and renewable energy for the future to meet both domestic and export demands,” he said.
With existing dams such as Batang Ai, Murum and Bakun collectively generating nearly 3,500MW of renewable energy, he noted that a fourth 1,285MW hydroelectric project in Baleh is currently under construction and schedule for completion towards the end of this decade.
“These plants are vital part of our efforts to build a modern power system and power grid for Sarawak,” he said.
Moving towards Net Zero goals and advancements in technology, he pointed out that Sarawak’s renewable hydropower resources are supplemented by alternative renewables like solar and wind energy, hydrogen as well as investments into emission reduction solutions like carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
Considering Malaysia’s pledge for Net-Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emmissions as early as 2050 and its ambitious target to achieve 70 per cent renewable energy installed capacity as outlined under the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), Abang Johari highlighted that, “Sarawak will be instrumental in achieving these goals.”
With that, he underscored the importance of SAREF 3.0, themed ‘Regional Net Zero and Sustainable Communities Through Renewable Energy Development and Interconnections’, as a crucial platform for collaborative efforts to balance current and future energy demand for Sarawak and the world.
Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Minister of Utility and Telecommunication Datuk Julaihi Narawi, Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister of Telecommunication Datuk Liwan Lagang, Federal Deputy Minister of Economy Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib and Sarawak Energy Group chief executive officer (CEO) Datu Sharbini Suhaili were among those present. — DayakDaily
