Sabah can't do without coal plant: SESB

Daily Express 13 Dec 09;

Papar: Sabah needs to have a coal-fired power plant in its east coast region to ensure stable electricity supply statewide and prevent blackouts in east coast districts if the existing supply system fails, according to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).

Currently east coast districts are depending mainly on supply channelled through the West-East Coast Grid from the west coast which the utility company considers as risky.

Because if something happened, for example a lighting strike hits and damages any cable along this grid, the entire east coast districts may face a blackout.

At the moment there is no power plant in the east coast with a capacity enough to support the existing demand there, it stated, adding the coal-fired power plant planned at Felda Sahabat in Lahad Datu would be the first, if it materialises.

Media representatives were told about this at a one-day SESB Media Retreat at Beringgis Beach Resort, Saturday.

SESB Corporate Communication Senior Manager, Chendramata Haji Sinteh, in replying to public suspicion that the coal for this power plant in Lahad Datu would in the end come from coal deposits in the Maliau Basin, assured this will not happen.

She said the coal deposits in Maliau are of high quality and unsuitable for firing the power plant in Lahad Datu. The Lahad Datu coal-fired power plant is designed to operate using coal not of the same quality as in Maliau, she added.

Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd (LDE), the company behind the coal-fired power plant project in Lahad Datu, meanwhile, said the plant is designed to burn about 1.22million tonnes of coal annually with a maximum design ash content of 7 per cent.

This will translate to about 85,400 tonnes of ash annually, said its Project Director Ahmad Farid Yahya.

"The dry ash will be stored in a specially designed ash yard entirely lined with impermeable membrane to prevent ash leachate to the ground. In the later years as the ash yard is filled, the area will be 'soiled' over and landscaped," he said.

He said the ash yard capacity has been designed for 25 years and from the analysis of the coal type to be used for the project, the presence of heavy metal elements is not detectable.

"However it is still a requirement by Department of Environment for the monitoring of heavy metal elements like mercury, lead, cyanide and so on," he said.

There is a positive side benefit of the ashes accumulated, he said, adding about 70 per cent of the ash can be used in the cement industry. "However, this is a separate commercial agreement between LDE and any interested parties."

If all goes according to plan, the Lahad Datu coal-fired power plant would be the seventh in the country. Currently there are six with four in the peninsula and two in Sarawak.

Ahmad said in the long run, after the coal-fired power plant is built and operational, the east coast region will benefit.

"The State Government will be able to attract and set up commercial, business and industrial centres in the region, thus creating economic opportunities for the locals," he said.

He said the standard of living will improve with more reliable electricity supply. Industrial areas will grow just like "what we have in peninsula, such as Penang, Port Kelang and Pasir Gudang."

More maritime based industrial sites means more jobs for Sabahans, he said, adding from being fisherman with incomes of RM500 per month, they can earn RM1,000 to RM1,500 by working in the industrial and manufacturing sectors.

"When a conducive environment is set up, more multinational companies will invest in Sabah. This will create a capital inflow," he said, adding a coal-fired power plant will be in line with the national fuel mix policy.

The Lahad Datu coal-fired power plant has also been designed for a specific coal quality range and operating beyond it will damage the power plant, he said.

Ahmad said the station would not discharge chlorine oxide as the Electro Chlorination Plant uses seawater to produce sodium hypochlorite via the electrolysis process.

"Sodium hypochlorite will be injected into the cooling water at a controlled rate to prevent growth of barnacles inside the piping. The residual sodium hypochlorite discharge is less than 2.0ppm as per the Department of Environment effluent limit," he said.

He said there would be no effect on marine life in the mangrove forests, sea grass beds, the coral reefs and beyond. This process is a widely accepted practice throughout the world for the thermal power plant cooling system.

Based on the Manjung power plant experience, he said the seawater temperature at 500m from the discharge point is reduced to ambient seawater temperature.

"The proposed power plant is facing the Sulu Sea so the head dissipation is expected to be better than Manjung. This will part of the DEIA thermal plume modelling study.

"The plant will be designed so that the seawater discharge will be less than 40 degrees Celsius in compliance with the Department of Environment limit," he said.

On the impact of coal use on the weather and global warming, Ahmad said the DEIA will conduct a computer modelling of the exhaust dispersion.

"The required mitigation factors to comply with the emission standards will be complied with. The DOE study guidelines are site and project specific. It is not required to study the global warming and global weather impacts," he said.

"In fact, LDE is not aware of any projects in the world that conducted their DEIA studies to encompass the whole world! Imagine the impossibly huge data and parameters to include in the computer software, and probably the computer will overload and crash," he said.

Coal-fired plant on track
Ruben Sario The Star 14 Dec 09;

KOTA KINABALU: An unpopular coal-fired plant project in the Sabah east coast Lahad Datu district appears to be a certainty now that the company is awaiting environmental approval for it.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) senior general manager for operations Abd Razak Sallim said the company was expecting the 300MW coal plant at the Felda Sahabat land scheme to be fully operational by 2014.

He said the coal-fired plant was the only option available to the electricity-deficient east coast as other power generation methods like those using natural gas, biomass, solar and hydro were not feasible.

“We need the power plant now in the east coast, otherwise, consumers there will continue to face blackouts,” he told reporters at a media briefing here.

He said that unlike in the peninsula where there were already four coal-fired plants, or in Sarawak which had two, power supply in Sabah was barely enough to meet the demand with the shortage reaching an acute situation in the east coast.

At the briefing, other SESB officials said the construction of more power plants in the west coast – where natural gas was readily available – with electricity being channelled to the east coast via a east-west grid was also risky.

They said the east coast would suffer a major blackout if anything were to happen to the grid such as a lightning strike or damage to the cables.

Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd, the company behind the coal plant, said the facility was designed to burn 1.22 million tonnes of coal annually. It was initially sited at Silam and then moved to Sandakan before being relocated to the Felda scheme following vocal opposition.

Various concerned groups in the state, including WWF Malaysia, Pacos Trust and the Sabah Environmental Protection Association and even the business community have opposed the coal plant project, arguing that such a project could destroy the state’s natural beauty.