Yesterday, The Star reported that there’s an opposition to a plan to construct a coal power plant in Sabah:
LAHAD DATU: A coal-fired power plant in an area earmarked for eco-tourism in Silam is yet to get off the ground but already it is stoking up anger among several groups in this part of east coast Sabah.
The most vocal opponents to the 300MW plant, said to cost between RM1.2bil and RM1.3bil, are a group of environmentalists, social activists and local businessmen in this booming agriculture town.
They fear the plant will do more harm than good for them and the environment stretching from Darvel Bay to the pristine Danum Valley forest, some 80km away.
According to officials, the power plant would utilize clean coal technology:
KUALA LUMPUR: The technology used for coal-based power plants is different compared to that used previously, Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said.
There has been a lot of talk of clean coal technology for the past few years in Malaysia but I’m still skeptical on how clean the power plants, including the one in Sabah, would be. Furthermore, I’m unsure how the power plant plans to store the carbon byproduct, i.e. waste.
Regardless the technology used, I wonder though, why do we need a 300 megawatts power plant when we are going to have a 2,400 megawatts Bakun hydroelectric dam soon? Why do we need another 300 MV coal power plant when most output of the 2,400 MV dam would not be used?
Not too long ago, the Sarawak state government wanted to build a metal smelter plant as an economic justification of the construction of the mightily huge Bakun dam. Without the smelter, the state government believes that the construction of the dam wouldn’t be justified, especially when the plan to connect the Malay Peninsula with Borneo via an underwater cable was scrapped due to the Asian financial crisis of the last decade. If the operator of dam really couldn’t find a buyer for its electricity, surely the Bakun dam could accommodate whatever the Sabah coal plant would accommodate. By the way, the Bakun dam is expected to become operational by mid-2009.
Perhaps, certain engineering issues regarding electricity transmission between Bakun, Sarawak and Sabah necessitates the construction of the new coal power plant in Malaysian Borneo?
If there’s none, then somebody better explain.
6 replies on “[975] Of 300 MV coal power plant versus 2400 MV hydroelectric dam”
[…] 300MV coal power plant in Sabah, as reported in November. See [975]. […]
bakun dam? smelter plant???
hahahhahahahaha…it’s all for Taik Mahmud family….supaya kocek baju lebih kembang…..
bakun dam….BULLSHIT
Walski, interesting stuff.
If that is the case, then why build a 2.4k MW dam?
Offtopic: Regarding the UCLA taser incident
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/11/21/0438238.shtml
“Wouldn’t it be great if someone mooted an electric double-tracked railway line between the two cities?”
Number one problem is the terrain. Some parts are quite mountainous and hilly. Just ask anyone who ever went on a road trip from Kuching to Sibu/Miri.
While I believe that a train service would be a nice idea, it seems impossible to achieve, especially when one looks at the map. Rivers all over the place compounded to the problem.
I was just in Miri yesterday, and while chatting with the cab driver who ferried us around from one meeting to the next, I found out that a coast-to-coast trip from Kuching to Miri (almost opposite ends of the coast) is close to 700 km.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone mooted an electric double-tracked railway line between the two cities? Currently the only way to travel would either be by air (approx an hour) or road (approx 16 hours), and the road accidents along the Miri-Kuching highway (term used loosely) are legendary. That’s one practical use for the Bakun output if the smelting plant doesn’t happen.
Such a train line would benefit the peoples of Sarawak tremendously. It could even be extended to Brunei and into Sabah on the east end, and from Kuching to Pontianak, creating a Trans-Borneo Rail Network.
In any case, I am not sure what the electric grid in Sarawak is like. If not mistaken, there is no statewide grid per se (I may be wrong), and part of the reason is the terrain. And partly also transmission issues (such as power loss) due to the massive distance. Hence, smaller output power stations dotted around Sarawak and Sabah. The Bakun output probably cannot even reach most of Sarawak, let alone Sabah.