Japan shows interest in state’s power sector

POWER UP: Julin giving a briefing on SCORE to Hirotaka (centre) in the presence of Tetsuo (left).by Peter Sibon. Posted on January 21, 2011, Friday

KUCHING: The Japanese government is showing a keen interest to invest in the state’s power sector, revealed Hirotaka Matsuoka, a visiting member of the Japanese House of Representatives.

“Our government is looking for a suitable partner who can provide stable power supply,” Hirotaka told The Borneo Post after a briefing by SPU principal assistant director Julin Alen at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday
He said his country was interested in looking at Sarawak’s power sector as it has huge potential.
“Henceforth, after listening to a briefing by the Sarawak Planning Unit (SPU), I will inform my government on the huge potential of power supply here,” he added.
The state is expected to produce 28, 000 megawatt of electricity by 2030.
Hirotaka was accompanied by Tetsuo Fujii, chairman of the Environment Technology Development Corporation of Japan.
Besides being a member of Japan’s ruling government’s HR Standing Committee on cabinet, Hirotaka is also a member of HR Special Comitee on Consumer Affairs and vice secretary general of the Youth Division of the Democratic Party of Japan.
He is also an officer with the Research Council For Energy and Information Technology of his country.
He promised that he would come back here soon to further explore the possibility of investing here.
“I have been to other countries in South East Asia but I am not impressed because of their constant power failure. I could not deal with that kind of unstable power supply,” he reiterated.
The visiting member of the House of Representatives was also impressed with the state government’s willingness to assist foreign investors to establish themselves here.
Hirotaka was also informed that Tokoyama, another Japanese firm, will start constructing its plant in Samalaju next month. The firm will be the first factory to produce polysilicon in the state.
Meanwhile, Julin disclosed that apart from the Bakun hydroelectricity power dam which is now currently under impoundment, the state is on track to construct the Murum HEP Dam which is expected to be completed by 2012.
Bakun is expected to generate power from its first turbine by July this year and will be fully operational by next year.
It has an installed capacity of 2,400 megawatt (MW) while Murum has an installed capacity of 944 MW.
By 2015, Sarawak is expected to produce some 5,778 MW of power, which will be derived mainly from hydro power and coal. Sarawak has some 1.5 billion metric tonnes of coal reserve.
Besides hydro and coal, the state also has an oil reserve of 1.3 billion barrels; 40.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserve; 81.4 million tones of silica sand and 22.6 million tones of kaolin clay.
Julin disclosed that the central part of Sarawak was identified for the implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) as all the identified natural resources necessary to proper Sarawak into a developed state by 2030 are found there.