Sarawak eyes exporting power to Singapore, says Julaihi

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Julaihi said the 275kV transmission line from Mambong to Bengkayang, West Kalimantan has been operating since Jan 20, 2016. — Bernama file photo

KUCHING (May 24): The Sarawak government is exploring opportunities to export electricity to Singapore, said Minister of Utility and Telecommunication Datuk Julaihi Narawi.

He said Sarawak is already exporting electricity neighbouring Kalimantan, Indonesia and is also ready to supply Sabah and Brunei Darussalam.

“Aside from reducing risk through diversifying the market portfolio for its energy, Sarawak will gain benefit by increasing its revenue through the export of such excess capacity,” Julaihi said in his winding up speech.

He pointed out the 275kV transmission line from Mambong to Bengkayang, West Kalimantan has been operating since Jan 20, 2016 and up till March this year the average power demand was 74MW.

He said Sarawak had also signed a Power Exchange Agreement with Sabah on Aug 6, 2021 to export power up to 50MW to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, subject to the completion of the Northern Grid Extension.

“The average amount of these exports is very small, not exceeding 2 per cent of the total generating capacity, while the tariff is higher than the local tariff,” he said.

On its distribution system performance, Julaihi said under the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, his ministry had set a target of no more than 60 minutes per year on the System Average Interruption Duration Index (Saidi) and not exceeding once a year on the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (Saifi) by 2030.

He said this was to increase the reliability of electricity supply to achieve its aspiration as a world-class utility.

Julaihi said Sarawak Energy had improved the distribution system to consumers through continuous modernisation.

He pointed put that in 2016, the Saidi was 125 minutes, while the target for this year is to not exceed 72 minutes.

As for Saifi, it was 1.47 times in 2016 and the target for this year is to not exceed 1.02 times.