Sharbini Suhaili
KUCHING: Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) spends RM3.5 to RM4 billion on various projects in the state every year.
Its chief executive officer Sharbini Suhaili said SEB was still growing and would embark on various projects to produce energy for the state.
“We are indeed in a very capital-intensive period and we have been doing that for a number of years. Our customer base is also growing and the company is on the right footing,” he said when met by reporters after he spoke on ‘Hydropower Development and Community Engagement Programmes’ on the second day of 13th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) yesterday.
Sharbini added that SEB was now embarking on a number of projects, namely the coal-powered Balingian Power Plant which will start next year, the combine cycle gas turbine in Tanjung Kidurong (Bintulu) to supply 800mw of electricity in 2021/2022, and Balleh HEP plant which will be completed in 2025.
He said SEB has been exporting 200mw of electricity to Indonesia, and is also looking at Brunei and Sabah for potential power extension.
On the company’s green projects, Sharbini said they had 7mw of solar installation mainly in hard-to-reach rural areas.
“For those villages outside the grid, we use solar, micro hydro and also mini hydro,” he said.
Sharbini said by 2025, they would hopefully achieve 100 per cent electricity supply throughout the state by also using solar and micro hydro.
“We will also have hybrids between solar and micro-hydro and maybe generator sets as backup.”
He said SEB would also use hydrogen to generate green energy as the state has plenty of water sources.
“We will do this based on the market needs and how technologies develop in the renewal energy sector,” he said.