Jaswinder Kaur, New Straits Times 24 Dec 09;
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board's suggestion for Sabah to use methane from mills to generate electricity, instead of building a coal-fired power plant, is in line with calls to use renewable energy to solve power shortage in the state.
Sabah Environment Protection Association (Sepa) president Wong Tack said there was a need for political will to provide incentives to make use of green technologies.
"What MPOB has said reinforces the point that we have been making, and we hope these growing voices will be taken seriously.
"The generation of renewable energy is subsidised in many countries and they are allowed to sell to the grid at higher prices.
"I hope Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the government will do the same. The government can step in as a matter of policy because an initiative like this has to be supported and encouraged."
Wong was responding to a recent statement by MPOB chairman Datuk Sabri Ahmad that there were 117 palm oil mills in Sabah that emitted methane, which could be trapped to fuel steam turbines.
Sabri had said it was a cleaner alternative for Sabah, instead of a coal-fired plant, adding that biomass and biogas technologies were also available.
Wong said Sabri's statement showed that he knew the potential of renewable energy from vast oil palm plantations in Sabah.
A coalition of non-governmental organisations that calls itself Green Surf wants TNB and its subsidiary, Sabah Electricity, to increase the efficiency of power facilities and to look at other alternatives instead of the 300-megawatt coal plant at a Felda plantation in Lahad Datu.
'Need for study on biomass option'
New Straits Times 24 Dec 09;
KOTA KINABALU: Studies should be done on the feasibility of using biomass and biogas to resolve the electricity shortage in Sabah, state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said yesterday.
"If it is possible, it is a good substitute for fossil fuels. I'm curious to know whether it can be done.
"I think all of us in Sabah are eager to know if indeed it (biomass-generated power) can be done here. That is something for Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Berhad to think about."
Masidi said it was up to these bodies to conduct a thorough study to see if agricultural waste could be used to generate power on a sufficient scale for residential and commercial use.
He was asked to comment on a recent report which quoted Malaysian Palm Oil Board chairman Datuk Sabri Ahmad as saying that biogas methane emitted by waste sludge in the retention ponds of 117 oil mills in Sabah could be trapped to fuel steam turbines and generate electricity.
Sabri had said it was a cleaner alternative to building a coal-fired power plant. Sabri had said biomass and biogas technologies were available now.
"I'm sure it is possible on a small scale, but we are talking about an entire grid -- a much bigger scale," said Masidi after opening the Snips College of Creative Arts in Karamunsing here yesterday.
"It must also be made cheaper for consumers. Will our consumers be ready to pay a premium for electricity?"
A coal-fired plant to be built in Felda Sahabat on the east coast of Sabah to solve the state's power woes has attracted much controversy.
On another matter, Masidi said Sabah was not ready for single-session schools as the infrastructure in many schools was not in place for such a plan.
