KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is still waiting for Sarawak to complete its portion of the highly anticipated Sabah-Sarawak 275kV transmission grid interconnection project so that both states can proceed with power supply enhancement plans.
Sabah Electricity Chief Executive Officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said Sabah completed its portion last year, but Sarawak is experiencing construction delays.
"There is indication that the Sarawak side aims to complete their part this year, but from what we've assessed, we might have to wait a little longer," he said during a visit to the plant in Tenom on Wednesday (May 14).
He said Sabah expects to see an increase of around 30MW in power reserve, which could potentially rise to 300MW once the project is completed.
Yaakob said this project is crucial for Sabah's power reserve margin and in efforts to provide a stable power supply to users in the state.
The project was completed with a RM35mil allocation from the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation.
When asked about the Asean power grid interconnection project to the Philippines from Kudat to Palawan and from Lahad Datu to Mindanao, as well as to Indonesia via Tawau (Kalabakan) to North Kalimantan, he said there were still many issues to address.
"For our part, we are drafting a feasibility study for the interconnection from Tawau to North Kalimantan, and consultants have been appointed," he said.
However, due to changes in the United States government, the grant they received previously for this feasibility study has been withdrawn, said Yaakob.
"So we need to discuss with our partner countries on how to move forward with this study," he said.
A meeting is scheduled in Jakarta on Thursday (May 15), chaired by the Asean Centre of Energy with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) in Indonesia and Sabah Electricity to discuss this and related matters, he said.
