SANDAKAN: Concerns are growing over whether Sabah’s latest push into solar energy will be enough to resolve the state’s long-standing electricity supply shortages.
Tanjong Papat assemblyman said the issue remains especially pressing along Sabah’s East Coast, where recurring generation shortfalls have continued to trigger supply disruptions.
While he welcomed the shift towards cleaner power generation, Thien cautioned that the current scale of solar deployment remains too small to address Sabah’s structural energy deficit.
“Solar is a positive step, but 28MW of capacity is simply insufficient to fix Sabah’s structural electricity deficit, particularly on the East Coast where generation shortfalls have repeatedly affected reliability,” he said.
His remarks followed the recent launch of Sabah’s first floating solar power plant at Babagon Dam, which has a capacity of 13.2MW, alongside a 15MW ground-mounted solar farm in Sandakan, together contributing 28.2MW of renewable energy to the state’s grid.
Thien stressed that Sabah urgently needs larger baseload power solutions, particularly hydroelectric schemes, to ensure continuous generation and grid stability.
“Hydro can supply round-the-clock electricity, unlike solar which only operates during the day. It helps stabilise grid frequency and reserve margins more effectively than intermittent sources alone,” he said.
While agreeing that solar should form part of a balanced energy mix, he said the scale of projects announced so far did not address Sabah’s deep-rooted supply issues.
Thien also raised concerns over the reported cost of the Babagon Dam project, noting that typical large-scale solar developments in Malaysia range between RM2.5mil and RM3.5mil per megawatt, while the project was reportedly priced at more than RM4.7mil per megawatt.
“For a publicly funded energy project, return on investment matters. We need clarity on why this cost premium exists, what the expected payback period is, the internal rate of return assumed, and whether public funds, loans or grants were used,” he said.
He also stressed the need for accompanying infrastructure such as battery energy storage systems to manage solar intermittency, and called for a broader, systems-level energy roadmap.
“Robust energy security requires hydro, gas, grid strengthening, cross-border links and storage working in concert.
"Solar should be scaled under transparent procurement, competitive pricing and resilience targets, especially for the East Coast where deficits are most acute,” he said.
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