THE STAR – Electricity generation from solar power has reached 84 megawatts (MW) with more renewable energy projects being implemented, said Sabah Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan.
He said 50MW of energy is generated at the Kudat solar farm, operating since 2018, while large-scale solar projects to generate up to 62MW are being implemented and expected to be ready next year.
He said the projects are in Beaufort (6MW capacity), Kunak (5MW), Sandakan (20MW), Tawau (16MW) and Labuan (15MW). “We will have about 146MW or 11 per cent of the total generation capacity of the grid in Sabah,” he told the state assembly yesterday.
Responding to a question from Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee (GRS-Nominated), Nizam said Sabah had the potential to generate up to 99,400MW based on the Malaysian Renewable Energy Roadmap (MyRER) drawn up by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) in 2021.
He said MyRER’s projection was based on using an undeveloped land area of 1,887 square kilometres or 2.6 per cent of Sabah’s total land area for solar farms. However, he said that for the state’s electricity grid to maintain stability, only a maximum of 220MW or 22 per cent could come from solar power.
“Solar power needs consistent energy (inflow) from the sun’s rays,” he said, adding that the capacity of solar energy channelled into the electricity grid can only be increased when battery storage technology is sufficiently advanced. “(The percentage of solar power in the grid can be increased) only when this technology is mature and competitive in the future,” he said.
