Sarawak to start first export of hydropower with cross-border transmission line

Sarawak to start first export of hydropower with cross-border transmission line
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Surin Murugiah of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 29 August 2013 08:24

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Sarawak will start its first export of hydropower under a plan by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and government of Indonesia to build a cross-border power transmission line linking West Kalimantan with Sarawak, Malaysia, bringing cleaner, greener hydroelectricity to West Kalimantan and adding 8,000 households to its power grid.

In a statement on ADB’s website Aug 28, ADB principal energy specialist Sohail Hasnie said it was a win-win situation.

“West Kalimantan gets renewable energy and will have the ability to exchange power; Sarawak starts its first export of hydropower; and the region moves one step closer to establishing a regional power transmission link that crosses Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia, he said.

The ADB said the project would build a 145-kilometer distribution line, distribution feeder extensions, and a new substation to improve the reliability of power in West Kalimantan.

It said an 83-km cross-border high-voltage transmission line and substation will connect the West Kalimantan power grid to that of neighboring Sarawak.

An estimated 230 megawatt-hour of power could be exchanged every hour between the two systems, it said.

Funding for the project is via a US$49.5 million ADB loan, while the ADB said it would also administer a US$49.5 million loan provided by the French development agency Agence Française de Dévelopment, as well as a US$2 million grant provided by the Multi-Donor Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility.

ADB is currently preparing a second loan project to finance the transmission line on the Malaysia side.

Both countries have agreed to complete the CONSTRUCTION [] by December 2014 and power flow will start from 1 January 2015.

Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the Indonesian state-owned electricity company, currently uses oil for power generation in West Kalimantan, which has pushed the cost up to 25 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

Under the power exchange agreement signed with Sarawak, the cost of power in West Kalimantan could be cut to 18 cents/kWh, while carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-based generation could be cut by 400,000 tons each year by 2020.