Sabah To Host Malaysia's First Geothermal Power Plant

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Sabah will soon host Malaysia's first geothermal power plant in Tawau, and it will place the country in 16th spot globally in geothermal energy generation. Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili said the power plant developed by Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd (TGE) at Apas Kiri, Tawau, is scheduled for commercial operation by June 2018. He also said the plant is set to export 30 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd's (SESB) grid under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme. "After an extensive research, followed by geology, geophysics and geochemistry analysis and modelling by US-based company GeothermEx Inc and New Zealand engineering company Jacobs, the existence of an active geothermal system centred around the flanks of Mount Maria on Apas Kiri was confirmed. "We are pleased to learn that drilling had reached a depth of 1,449 metres and even at such shallow depth, the temperature recorded already exceeded 200 degrees Celcius," he told a press conference here Friday. Ongkili said two geothermal wellpads are complete and a third is under construction. Meanwhile, Jacobs geothermal consultant Dr Ryan Libbey said about six wellpads are needed to generate 30MW of electricity, as each costing about US$5 million to construct, can generate between 4MW-5MW. -- BERNAMA