STOP getting distracted by petty power struggles and get serious about boosting the renewable energy (RE) industry.
“We need a holistic masterplan to convert our fossil-fuel power generation system to RE in Peninsula Malaysia.
“Let us gradually do away with coal-based power plants and boost capacity for RE. However, our Government seems to be distracted by power struggle for now,” Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairperson Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj told FocusM.
Last month, fellow PSM leader Sharan Raj urged the Government to scrap the Pulau Indah independent power producer (IPP) project at its infancy, adding it would shoot up Peninsula Malaysia’s power reserve margin to 42%.
He also said that a tropical nation like Malaysia only requires a maximum of 20% in reserve power margin for rainy days.
“Beyond the threshold, consumers would be forced to pay higher tariffs for unused power plants,” Sharan was reported saying.
Use natural gas in transition
However, Parliamentary Select Committee for International Trade and Trade chairman Wong Chen said the Federal Government would be hard-pressed to cancel the project as the deal was already signed.
Sharan dismissed Wong Chen’s argument saying the Pulau Indah IPP owners had only hired its engineering consultancy to do the groundwork early this month.
Supporting Sharan’s calls, Jeyakumar said that the Government should do away with the IPP model, which would allow longtime concession period to its management, between 20 and 30 years.
“We need to tweak such agreements as it’s no longer sustainable. For the existing deals, we should stop concession period once their term expires,” said the former Sungai Siput MP.
On RE, Jeyakumar said that the Government should utilise natural gas in the transition period, as the latter was less polluting compared to coal.
He added that once a coal power plant is decommissioned, the Government should turn them into power storage centres for RE.
“We can utlilise the decommissioned IPP plants to store RE as the former are well-connected to our power grids,” Jeyakumar remarked. – Dec 20, 2020.
