Malaysia aims to install at least 400 megawatts of floating solar on its dams by 2030 as the facility expands to meet growing renewable energy demand from neighboring countries, Sarawak Energy Group CEO said.
The Sarawak- based company, which generates most of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, is expanding its solar capacity as it seeks to reduce its reliance on coal and increase exports to neighboring Sabah, Indonesia and Brunei, among others. Singapore.
Sarawak Energy CEO Sharbinyi Suhaili told Reuters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Energy Asia conference that this month Sarawak Energy started construction of the first 50 megawatt floating solar module at the Batang Aye dam, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. . .
According to him, studies have shown that the company can reliably connect up to 1,500 megawatts of energy from three hydroelectric plants to its grid. Sarawak is also building a fourth hydroelectric power station, which will be commissioned by 2028 and will bring its total hydropower capacity to 4,737MW.
The company has signed contracts to export 30 to 50 megawatts of electricity to the state of Sabah in 2024.
Sarabini said that Sarawak Power exports 80-100 megawatts of electricity to Indonesia's West Kalimantan region and is building a 1,375 megawatt hydropower plant in North Kalimantan with its partner, which could be put into operation by 2030.
Sarawak Energy is also in talks with Brunei and Singapore, which have completed feasibility studies to export hydropower via submarine cables in 2030, but high costs and technical challenges remain.
About 70 to 80 percent of the cables will be in Indonesian waters, so we can manage that."
According to Sharbini, such a link would help launch the ASEAN Power Grid, an idea that has long been discussed but is still on the drawing board.
Sarawak Power will partially decommission the 210MW Sejgingkat power station by 2028 and the 270MW Mukah power station after 2030, reducing the share of coal in the power system from the current 18% to 10% by 2030, Sharbini said. plans to download to . He said:
According to him, the 624 megawatt coal-fired power plant to be built in Balingyan in 2020 will be supported to ensure energy security.
(Reporting by Reuters - Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Florence Tan and Robert Purcell)
