Sabah’s new solar plants ‘not enough’ to fix power woes, says rep

SANDAKAN: Concerns are growing over whether Sabah's latest solar initiatives can meaningfully resolve the state's long-standing power shortages, says Tanjong Papat assemblyman Alex Thien. Read full story SANDAKAN: Concerns are growing over whether Sabah’s latest solar initiatives can meaningfully resolve the state’s long-standing power shortages, says Tanjong Papat assemblyman Alex Thien.“28MW of capacity is not enough to tackle Sabah’s electricity deficit, especially on the East Coast,” he said.He was referring to the recent launch of Sabah’s first floating solar plant at Babagon Dam, with a capacity of 13.2MW, and a 15MW ground-mounted solar farm in Sandakan, which together add 28.2MW of renewable energy to the grid.“Hydro can supply round-the-clock electricity, unlike solar, which only operates during the day. It stabilises grid frequency and reserve margins far more effectively than intermittent sources alone,” he said on Monday (Feb 16).Thien also questioned the reported cost of the Babagon Dam project, noting that typical large-scale solar projects in Malaysia range from RM2.5mil to RM3.5mil per megawatt, compared with more than RM4.7mil per megawatt in this case.“For a publicly funded energy project, returns matter,” he said.He stressed the need for supporting infrastructure, such as battery energy storage, to manage solar intermittency and called for a broader, systems-level energy roadmap. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates! Tags / Keywords: Solar , Doubt , Hydro , Claims , Not Enough , Alex Tien , Questions Report a mistake What is the issue about? Spelling and grammatical error Factually incorrect Story is irrelevant This field is mandatory. Please provide details of the report. Email (optional) Please enter valid email. Report issue Cancel Invalid captcha response. Please re-try again. Thank you for your report! Related News Nation 5h ago Sabah boosts food supply Sabah & Sarawak 17h ago PKR’s Mustapha Sakmud takes over as Sabah Pakatan chief Sabah & Sarawak 21h ago RM560mil to boost Sabah’s food security