Sarawak to accelerate power supply expansion plan

2009/11/07

KUCHING, Sat: Sarawak is to accelerate its power generation expansion plan to meet the demand of local industries and also for sale to Peninsular Malaysia, the state Planning and Resource Management Minister II, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said today.

He said the Bakun Hydroelectric dam to produce 2,400MW power by 2011 and the RM3 billion Murum dam project to generate 900MW by 2013, could not meet the demand in the energy-intensive industries planned for the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) by 2015.

Cited an example, he said a smelter plant required minimum 776MW power and there would be four smelter plants in SCORE by 2015.

"Our priority is to meet the industry demand. With Bakun fully operational and the smelter plants coming in, we have no choice but to accelerate our power generation expansion plan.

"Hopefully, we can generate 3,000MW of power by 2015," he told reporters after the Barisan Nasional pre-state legislative assembly meeting here today.

Beside the demand of power in the energy intensive industries in the state, Awang Tengah said the state is to sell about 1,700 MW of power from Bakun to Peninsular Malaysia through submarine cables.

The Bakun Hydroelectricity dam project is expected to start generating 300MW electricity in October or November next year, when the first of its eight turbines is commissioned.

The dam will be fully operational by 2011 and the bulk of electricity will be exported to the Peninsula through undersea submarines cables,expected to be ready by 2016.

Apart from the hydroelectric dam projects, Awang Tengah said the state would expand its coal-fired plants.

"We will tap the coal resources, as we have a huge coal reserve," he said. -- BERNAMA