“NOTHING is impossible if you put your heart into what you want to do,” said Crosby Teng Mee Lian, now working very hard to build a state of the art eight-turbine wind tower in Bario, Miri, which he hopes will generate electricity for his village one day.
WIND ENERGY: The design of the state of the art eight-turbine wind tower that aims to harness electricity at low wind speed and cheaper cost.
“The reason for this undertaking is that the villagers are sincere and they appreciate what we are trying to do to help them,”said the ambitious 33-year-old mechanical engineering technician who managed to secure a grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (MOSTI) for his project.
Crosby who at studied at the Institute of Technical Education Singapore, needs additional funding to get the wind turbines built and operational before the November (2012) deadline.
He was halfway through his diploma course at Offshore Technology in Singapore’s Ngee Ann Polytechnic when he started thinking seriously about starting the project.
“My kampung is 500km by road, taking 16 hours to drive – and one hour by plane. There are still 3,000 people there – mostly old folks, children and only a handful of adults,” said Crosby who is of mixed parentage.
His father is a Foochow while his mother a Sino-Kelabit.
What prompted him to take up the project is that the existing micro-dam, generating electricity for the Bario plains, is simply not enough for all the nine villages as the wattage is meant for one village only.
He claimed the dam also created another problem for the padi planters as the waterflow into their fields was restricted and would even worsen during the dry season.
“We can survive without electricity but not water supply and rice,” Crosby said on why he sensed the urgency to develop a sustainable form of renewable energy for the affected villagers.
“I traced the actual problem after returning to Bario last November. The micro-dam happens to be located at the main source of the river that flows from the mountains, thus reducing the volume of water going into the padi fields,” he explained.
According to him, there are plastic pipes directly connecting the micro-dam to the padi fields but it is not sufficient because at some point, the pipes may burst.
The water problem now facing the villagers, especially during droughts, has resulted in padi fields being covered with algae (due to lack of water).
Costly project
Crosby said from October 2010 to September 2011, RM230,000 had already been spent mostly on equipment, staff salaries and research, including a seven-month study from September 2010 to March last year.
Completion of the project is supposed to be in November this year but as Crosby pointed out, so far only 35 per cent of the work had been finished with the most challenging being transportation and logistics.
“I have already spent RM150,000 from my personal savings while the balance was borrowed from family, relatives and friends, including a hefty RM30,000 from an uncle,” he said on the breakdown of funds to finance the project before receiving the MOSTI grant.
As the construction cost is expected to be higher than first thought, he is also planning to sell his apartment, bought six years ago, to see the project through.
“I have no fall-back plan. If this project fails, I may as well go back to become a full-time farmer working on the plot of land belonging to my grandparents,” Crosby said of his do or die mission.
For this reason, he is looking forward to securing at least RM150,000 from the Sarawak Youth Talent Discovery (SYTD) to bring the project to fruition.
Held in conjunction with KTS 50th anniversary celebration, the SYTD project’s mission is to help develop young Sarawakian talents with a RM1 million grant.
“A lot of people say I am a fool to leave my stable job in Singapore but this is my village and I can’t bear reading another sad news about it,” he added.
Doing something good
Crosby does not want do the project part time because he said time waits for no one in his village, adding that even if he could not make life better for the elderly, at least he would be doing something good for the next generation.
“Yes, it’s difficult for me because there is no income. Now, I support myself by doing some house renovation, plumbing, roofings and door grills. Friends and hardware shopowners I often deal with have also been helping out.”
There is still a lot on his mind, particularly the problem of inadequate funds to purchase equipment.
“Even though there is support from MOSTI, we still need to look for ways to cover salaries, transportation and operation costs and air fares, all of which are not included in the grant,” he said.
However, Crosby has faith his project will succeed because it is designed to harness electricity at low wind speed, making wind energy a feasible alternative for Bario and even other parts of Malaysia.
The cost is relatively cheaper too because all the parts and structures are made locally.
“It will also create jobs if we mass produce the wind-turbines for all the villages,” he added.
For the localised construction process, he is able to impart to the young villagers skills needed for the project.
“If a kampung boy like me can innovate and do something good for the community, I hope the younger generation will be similarly inspired to think out of the box.
“There are better ways of doing things – that’s why we must strive hard and never give up,”he said.
Under the SYTD project, talented youths between 18 to 35 years old can apply to the KTS Group with their videos, artworks, proposals or essays that showcase their talents along with brief details on how they wish to develop them.
The RM1 million grant will go to funding chosen applicants in pursuing their dreams. The number of beneficiaries is not fixed.
As long as the applicants have passed the evaluation of KTS group’s committee members, they will be provided with financial or material assistance.
The scope of talents under the SYTD project can cover a wide range of specialties in the arts, sciences, horticulture, agriculture, sports, engineering, architecture, information technology, hospitality, mass communication and many more.
The closing date for registration is Aug 15, 2012.
Application forms can be obtained from KTS Holdings Sdn Bhd. For more enquiries, contact Karen Teng or April Lau at 082-345033. Alternatively, the forms can also be downloaded from www.seehua.com or www.theborneopost.com.