Kota Kinabalu: Sabah should pursue green energy sources instead of opting for coal for power generation.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) Chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wilfred Madius Tangau had said last week in a talk show that coal power is the cheapest option for power generation.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Vice President Sim Fui said it was a shocking statement as solar is actually the cheaper option for power generation.
He said both West Malaysia and Sarawak had used coal for power generation but they were set up more than 10 years ago.
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“China, which once was mainly generating power from coal, is now pursuing green energy sources such as solar, mini hydro, biogas, waste to energy and even wind energy.
“It was also shocking that the new SESB Chairman said there were too many people playing romance with the environment!” When Sabah should exactly remain green and preserve its strong green branding around the world,” Sim said in a statement, Monday.
The LDP Public Complaint Bureau Chief also denied that Sabah ever had the 300MW which was later shut down.
Sim explained that the proposed coal power plant after it was strongly objected to be set up in Sandakan and Tawau by all Sabahans.
“Environmentally, using coal means either Sabah has to barge the coal from Indonesia through the sensitive marine gems of Tun Sakaran Marine National Park e.g. Sipadan and Mabul Islands or Sabah mined its coal, of which both options could be environmentally devastating for beautiful and green Sabah.
“This was exactly why the previous proposal of setting up the polluting coal fired power plant in Sandakan and Lahad Datu were fiercely rejected by Sabahans.
“The mistake cost a lot of unnecessary delay in power generation and loss to SESB,” said the party’s public complaint bureau chief in a statement.
Sim also added that Sabah must not repeat the mistakes of the past and must embrace the global trend for ESG compliance, Net Carbon Zero aspiration by pursuing only Green Energy sources and not dirty energy sources such as Coal and diesel.
“Does the new SESB chairman know that going forward any manufactured goods with non-green energy sources may be subject to carbon tax?
“How to attract manufacturers to set up plants in Sabah with non-green and non-ESG compliant energy sources?”
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