SANDAKAN – The Sabah government has been asked to explain the reason behind its plan to source electricity from Sarawak, when it has other available resources to generate power.
These include biomass and gas, or biogas from oil palm factories, said Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong.
“Sabah could have a gas turbine power plant to generate electricity from gas, so why are we buying from Sarawak?”
Last Friday, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd signed an agreement with a Sarawak Energy Bhd subsidiary for Sabah to source power from Sarawak, with an initial import of 30MW to 50MW for 15 years.
The supply will be made via a 274kV double-circuit transmission line spanning 31km – running from Lawas in Sarawak to Mengalong, Sipitang in Sabah – beginning end-2023.
Chong said Sabah has 120 palm oil factories, with over half of them already generating their own power via biogas and biomass energy.
“For example, if each factory is able to generate an extra 5MW of electricity, imagine how much electricity the state could generate from all the palm oil factories in the state?
“Why is the government not using this electricity instead? The state government must explain this.”
The DAP rep said he hopes sourcing power from Sarawak will not increase the electricity tariff in Sabah.
“If we buy (power) from Sarawak at 12 sen per kW, adding the cost of supply, surely the price will increase to about 35 sen.
“I hope that this will not happen (increase of the electricity tariff in Sabah), as it will surely drive investors away when they see that Sabah’s electricity tariff is higher; they would prefer to invest in Sarawak.” – The Vibes, Aug 9, 2021
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