PENINSULA ELECTRICITY GENERATION CAPACITY REACHES 26,152 MEGAWATTS - FADILAH

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Peninsular Malaysia's electricity generation capacity has now reached 26,152 megawatts with an energy reserve of 24 per cent, said Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

Fadillah, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the electricity generation capacity in Sarawak is 5,745 megawatts with an energy reserve of 25 per cent while in Sabah the capacity is 1,237 megawatts with an energy reserve of 6.1 per cent.

"The government is indeed committed to ensuring sufficient energy supply for the country. It is based on three things, namely the security of energy supply, both its sustainability and sustainable supply, while at the same time ensuring a sustainable environment.

"And the third is affordability. To supply energy consumers can afford," he said during an oral question and answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

Fadillah was responding to a question from Senator Baharuddin Ahmad who wanted to know the current status of electricity generation capacity and energy reserves for the Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak and also asked whether the existing supply was sufficient to meet the demand and needs of the rapidly growing data centre industry.

Explaining further, he said that to achieve the three basic points, the government had established the Planning and Implementation Committee for Electricity Supply and Tariff (JPPPET).

Through the committee, Fadillah said the government is able to determine energy requirements, namely generation, implementation to ensure sufficient supply by awarding contracts through power generation utility companies and determining tariffs.

Meanwhile, Fadilah said the JPPPET projected the electricity supply requirement for data centres to be 12.9 gigawatts in 2030 and is expected to increase to 20.9 gigawatts by 2040.

"Therefore, the meeting approved the projected development plan for Peninsular Malaysia's power development plan (PDP) for 2024 to 2050 which takes into account the development of new gas-based generation capacity and the increase in renewable energy to meet the projected demand," he said.

He also said as an immediate solution, the ministry has identified existing power plants to extend their operating period because the completion of a power plant usually takes four or five years.

-- BERNAMA