KUCHING, May 22 — Electricity demand for domestic, commercial and industrial sectors in the state is expected to increase by 33 per cent (2,122 megawatts (MW)) by the year 2028, said Datuk Julaihi Narawi.
The Minister for Utilities and Telecommunication said a 67 per cent increase (4,338MW) was also expected on the same year, involving users of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and Power Exchange Agreement (PEA).
According to him, the state’s available generation capacity stands at 5,745MW, enough to fulfil current demand of 4,627MW.
“Of the total number of current demands, 37 per cent of it (1,712MW) is from domestic, commercial and industries, while 67 per cent (2, 915MW) is from PPA for energy-intensive industries in Samalaju Industrial Park and PEA to West Kalimantan through the Bengkayang Connection Point.
“On generation capacity mix, hydropower contributed 60 per cent of this, followed by 22 per cent from gas fuel, 17 per cent from coal, and one per cent from diesel.
“Several construction projects of new power stations and transmission lines are being implemented to fulfil the increasing electricity demands, which is expected to increase to 6,460MW and the generation capacity also increase to 8,240MW in 2028,” he said in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) here today.
Meanwhile, for electricity supply coverage in rural areas, Julaihi said the coverage currently stands at 97.9 per cent statewide, adding that the state government has allocated RM2.37 billion to implement 188 rural electric supply projects.
He added that 69 projects are in various implementing stages and three more are still in the tendering stage.
“These projects will benefit 29,500 households statewide,” he added. — Borneo Post
