Only 8% of Sabah’s power is ‘green energy’ — rep

SANDAKAN: Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong Ket Kiun met with Minister of Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau to discuss electricity generation and the industrial sector of Sabah here recently.

Chong said Sabah needs to generate more electricity via green energy (renewable energy) sources in order for Sabahans to enjoy cheaper electricity rate.

He said that Sabah still needs an additional 3,000 to 4,000 MegaWatt (MW) through green energy in order to have cheaper electricity charges, and these green energy sources include solar, wind, hydro, biomass and biogas.

“Sabah’s electricity is generated 86 per cent from gas and five per cent from diesel; where power generation from gas and diesel is more expensive (than green energy). Only eight percent of Sabah’s power is generated from hydro energy.

“If we compare this to Sarawak, 77 percent of its electricity is generated from hydro energy, while only 11 percent is generated from gas and one percent from diesel.

“We must also be like Sarawak in relying more on green energy to generate its electricity than gas and diesel. That is why Sarawak has cheaper electricity charge than Sabah. Sabah should not depend of gas and diesel in generating its power,” he said.

“However, if we rely only on solar energy (although it is green energy), it will not be enough for us to achieve our target. For example, even with 600 acres of land filled with solar board, it will only be able to generate a small amount of energy.

“Hence, in order to generate huge amount of energy with low cost (about RM0.25 per watt), hydro, biomass, and biogas energy are the more suitable options,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chong also took the opportunity to suggest that the industrial sector in Sabah be upgraded in order to ensure the stability of Sabah’s economy.

“Among issues faced by the industrial sector is that the amount of containers involved in loading and unloading in Sabah needs to be increased. Currently, there are 280,000 containers involved in loading and unloading in Sabah ports (through Klang Port) a year. The number of containers needs to be increased to 500,000 a year.

“I hope that the Ministry of Transport will be able to cooperate with Sabah Government so that ships transporting these containers could come to ports in Sabah directly without needing to stop at Klang Port, in order to increase the number of containers that reach Sabah,” Chong said.

He said that he hopes that it will help to increase Sabah’s GDP, which is currently at seven percent, because he said Sabah needs to have at least 14 percent GDP in order to have stable economy.