Sabah is moving along the right path in its bid to develop renewable energy amid Malaysia’s quest to become a sustainable and low-carbon country.

Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman said numerous efforts were now being carried out to develop renewable energy by tapping into hydro and biomass resources as alternative energy.

“Sabah has gained from policies implemented by the Federal Government in relation to renewable energy.

“Currently, we have 42.3MW total capacity connected to the grid, of which 33MW is from biomass and the rest from mini-hydro dams,” he said.

This itself, he said was an indication that Sabah was going in the right direction, in line with the Government’s effort to tap into alternative energy sources.

The state government, through its research on power generation potential, had so far identified biomass and hydropower as promising solutions to address long-term electricity requirements in Sabah, said Musa in his speech read out by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Raymond Tan Shu Kiah at the launch of Institute for Development Studies Sabah’s (IDS) seminar on scaling renewable energy in Sabah, here.

Musa said plans were underway to transform Kudat into the state’s renewable energy centre.

“Kudat’s sunny climate makes it an ideal location for solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, and we have solar PV energy projects that could generate 58MW approved for construction to-date,” he said.

He said there were also plans to set up a research centre for wind and solar PV energy in Kudat, which would see the collaboration between local universities and Asean energy institutes.

“These are some efforts by the state government to reduce diesel subsidies and diminish greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Musa said the basic structure of the Malaysian economy and its productive development was based on the consumption of fossil fuels, similar to what was practised globally.

“The dependency on fossil fuels for energy production ultimately emits huge greenhouse gases, which leads to climate change, rise of sea level and other devastating impacts on human lives as well as the planet’s ecological balance,” he said.

“Thus, renewable energy is an alternative energy source that not only can meet the growing demands and requirements in energy consumption, but also drive development, improve wellbeing, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase natural resource productivity,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tan, who is also Sabah Industrial Development Minister, said Sabah though blessed with abundance of natural resources, were seeing them depleting over the years.

“Sabah has the most percentage of forests in Malaysia and we should be able to champion this renewable energy efforts,” he said.

Earlier at the event, IDS chairman Datuk Seri Clarence B. Malakun said although renewable energy development was still at its infancy in Sabah, steps such as providing necessary policy guidelines, infrastructure, incentives, technical and financial assistance to fully capitalise on the huge potential of renewable energy sources were already being done.

“Electricity requirements are increasing at an alarming rate in Sabah and conventional fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas may not be sufficient anymore,” he said.

“Therefore, all of us must understand the concept of renewable energy,” he said.

The seminar was jointly organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2017/10/04/aiming-for-a-lowcarbon-future-sabah-cm-says-plans-are-in-place-to-develop-renewable-energy-in-the-st/#ZR7QS7kTUvAR34rI.99 4 Oct 2017