This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 29, 2025 - January 4, 2026

Renewable energy (RE) is a central focus for Sarawak, with more than 70% of its power currently sourced from RE and a total generation capacity of about 5.9GW. This is well over the 60% target set under the Sarawak Sustainability Vision 2030, said Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg in May.

The state intends to expand further and position itself as an RE supplier for the wider region.

“Under the leadership of the premier, supported by clear policies on green energy and a strong commitment from state-owned utility Sarawak Energy, the state has achieved significant progress in strengthening its generation mix, grid infrastructure and overall system resilience,” says executive director and group chief strategy officer of Solarvest Holdings Bhd (KL:SLVEST) Leon Liew Chee Ing.

Hydroelectric power is the primary source of Sarawak’s RE, generated mainly from three hydroelectric plants (HEPs) — Batang Ai (94MW), Murum (944MW) and Bakun (2,520MW). A fourth plant, Baleh HEP, is under development and scheduled for completion by 2030.

This is complemented by the state’s other RE initiatives, including the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion project, floating solar farms and the microalgae-based CHITOSE Carbon Capture Central Sarawak (C4 Sarawak). Together, these bring the total available capacity to 5,898MW.

C4 Sarawak is a 5ha industrial microalgae production facility developed through a collaboration between Sarawak Energy, the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre and Japan’s CHITOSE Group.

The pilot facility in Sejingkat captures carbon emissions from a neighbouring coal power plant to cultivate microalgae, which is then harvested to produce renewable products such as dry biomass and aviation fuel. The project is designed to reduce emissions from the plant while creating a long-term sustainable fuel source.

At the project’s launch in 2023, Sarawak Energy reported that early studies estimated the microalgae farm could reduce emissions by 450tonnes of CO2 annually, though no official updates have been released since.

Sarawak Energy has said it wants to scale up the programme, targeting an expansion of 2,000ha by 2030 with up to 140,000 tonnes of algae biomass annually.

Meanwhile, the state is testing Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) in Miri. The technology generates RE from the temperature difference between warm surface seawater and cold deep seawater. However, it remains in the early stages of development.

Sarawak is also actively expanding its solar energy efforts to strengthen its RE mix, with Solarvest spearheading several key projects.

The 100MW Mukah Solar PV Plant is a joint venture between Mukah Solar Powerplant Sdn Bhd, a Solarvest subsidiary, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd (KL:PMETAL) to develop a large-scale solar farm scheduled to begin operations in 2027.

Solarvest has also undertaken initiatives to expand residential solar adoption through partnerships with organisations such as Hornbill Networks Consortium Sdn Bhd and Alliance Bank Malaysia.

The transition to RE is often accompanied by concerns over grid stability and reliability, given the intermittent nature of sources such as solar and wind. Liew believes, however, that Sarawak has addressed these challenges by proactively strengthening its grid resilience to ensure a reliable energy supply.

“The state’s investment in the RM2.7 billion 500kV extra high-voltage backbone, completed in 2017, has doubled transmission capacity and enhanced grid security by providing a redundant power corridor from northern generation sites to southern demand centres, with the ongoing Northern Grid Extension boosting reliability and export potential into 2025,” says Liew.

This is strengthened by the state government’s push into battery energy storage systems — such as the 60MW/82MWh Sejingkat system launched in December 2024 — as well as the natural storage capability of major hydropower plants.

“The Sarawak Energy Transition Policy (SET-P) projects 80,000 new jobs by 2050, with major upskilling programmes for hydrogen, solar and carbon technologies starting in 2026. The state needs 300,000 skilled workers by 2030, creating significant opportunities for locals,” says Liew.

Additionally, he notes that affordable, clean power is driving the growth of high-tech sectors such as polysilicon production for solar panels, semiconductors and hydrogen.

Sarawak houses one of Southeast Asia’s largest solar-grade polysilicon plants, producing material for 14GW of global solar capacity annually. These key exports are also central to Sarawak’s growth strategy.

To achieve its ambition of becoming the “battery of Asean” through the Asean Power Grid (APG), Sarawak estimates that it must expand its energy capacity to 10GW by 2035 and has set targets to reach this level. The APG is a regional initiative to connect the electricity networks of Southeast Asia.

Liew is optimistic about Sarawak’s chances of achieving this, calling its 10GW by 2030 and 15GW by 2035 targets realistic.

“Backed by a robust project pipeline, policy alignment under PCDS 2030 (Post Covid-19 Development Stategy 2030) and proven infrastructure, the 15GW target for 2035 is further supported by the accelerated deployment of solar and biomass, as well as sustained investment.”

Liew adds that the RE adoption momentum shows no signs of slowing, citing Solarvest’s outlook on the solar market.

“As the country’s largest clean energy developer, our combined order book across Borneo, which includes Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak, stands at around RM500 million, with the majority coming from our utility-scale solar programmes,” he says.

“These projects are scheduled for execution and completion within the next two to three years, and we anticipate stronger momentum ahead as both Sabah and Sarawak accelerate their energy transition agendas.”

Thu Vu, a senior analyst covering Southeast Asia at London-based energy transition technology and analytics firm TransitionZero, is optimistic about the state government’s ability to meet its APG goal.

She explains that this shift stems from a growing alignment of interests among regional countries on the role of cross-border power trading. Previously, limited political will and reluctance were the main barriers to electricity trade, but that has changed.

“Sarawak’s ambition to become a clean electricity exporter aligns well with the needs of its Southeast Asian neighbours, specifically Singapore. Interest is driven by growing power demand amid decarbonisation commitments, as well as a desire to diversify supply for improved energy security,” says Vu.

That said, she notes that not all proposals related to the APG are likely to materialise. There will be competition in how quickly governments and their utilities can act and assemble the necessary components.

“However, whether that target needs to be reached will depend on Sarawak’s projected demand growth. For the 2030 timeline, this growth is expected to come predominantly from domestic consumption, rather than exports, and the scope will depend on the state government’s strategy to attract specific industries and sectors into the region,” says Vu.

She points to findings in TransitionZero’s recently published study on 24/7 carbon free electricity in Malaysia, which highlights Sarawak’s advantages in serving corporates with sophisticated clean energy requirements.

“By 2030, corporates can achieve 90% CFE (carbon-free electricity) easily on the Sarawak grid, thanks to its hydro-rich and solar resources — compared with the more typical 70% to 80% range elsewhere in the region,” says Vu.

“If Sarawak aims to pursue exports to Singapore after 2030, its system development planning will need to account for the recipient’s requirement for clean energy, clean energy and sustainability attributes, and guaranteed firm supply.”

Liew says Sarawak’s competitiveness lies in three key areas: pricing, interconnection and regulation.

On the pricing side, he says the state offers among the most competitive unsubsidised electricity tariffs in Southeast Asia, with organic residential, industrial and commercial customers averaging at 28 sen/kWh. It has 700,000 account holders.

With interconnection in place, Sarawak has been exporting electricity to West Kalimantan since 2016. The state government also began supplying power to Sabah in December and is planning to export to Singapore by 2032.

“This further strengthens the state’s role as a regional energy hub and its vision to become the Battery of Asean, supplying renewable power through the interconnected Borneo and APG,” says Liew.

He adds that when it comes to regulation, the SET-P outlines a stable regulatory environment that supports cross-border sales of energy, which aligns with APG goals.

Liew says selling RE into the APG strengthens Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s positions as regional clean energy leaders. This will create new revenue streams and drive further investment in the grid and RE capacity, while supporting regional decarbonisation efforts — provided carbon accounting is properly managed.

“With the right governance, cross-border RE exports enhance both state and national sustainability goals while ensuring reliable and affordable energy at home,” he says.

Celine Lim, managing director of Sarawak-based indigenous and environmental rights group Save Rivers Network, argues that Sarawak still has several gaps to address before it fully pursues its APG ambitions.

“What Sarawak lacks fundamentally is the mechanism that includes robust public participation in its development projects and transparency of environmental and social impact assessments,” she says.

“As much as the state has expressed its interest in emerging as a major player in the APG, when there is no strong multi-stakeholder engagement and participation of civil society, even at the early designing stage of any public interest initiatives, project feasibility is then left to much speculation and confusion.”

Lim pushes back on optimism over the feasibility of the state government’s APG targets, arguing that it is difficult to assess whether the government is on track given the limited public information on scope, progress and feasibility studies.

She highlights concerns surrounding the state government’s efforts to increase its hydroelectric capacity to meet its APG exporting targets, such as through the Tutoh/Apoh Cascading Dam project announced in 2024.

“Local communities only heard about this project from the press when it was announced that the community had given the ‘green light’ for the project. This was all said even before any consultation or feasibility studies were carried out, which we think was premature and not according to due process.”

She says these concerns and pushback are over the lack of project disclosure, public engagement and the absence of any feasibility studies, and calls for greater transparency from the state government.

“The indigenous peoples have the right under the principle of free, prior and informed consent to withhold consent and express their resistance when all of these elements are missing,” stresses Lim.

During the Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum 4.0, Sarawak Energy signed several memorandums of understanding to secure APG agreements, including that between Sarawak Energy and the Asian Development Bank on cross-border electrical connectivity.

This formalised a collaboration covering support studies, capacity building and funding avenues for the state’s interconnection capabilities, such as the Sarawak-Singapore Interconnection Project.

“The concerns from the ground are how the MoUs signed in many of these high-level, closed-door meetings may not be beneficial to [Sarawakians], even though [they are] operating within many of the indigenous peoples’ Native Customary Rights territories,” says Lim.

She stresses that while civil society organisations are not inherently against large-scale goals like the APG, but it is difficult to say that these initiatives have the best interests of the people at heart when those negatively impacted by them are excluded from the decision-making process.

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