KUCHING: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg is optimistic there will be a successful transition from the era of fossil fuels to renewable energy.
He said he is aware that financial institutions are unsure about providing loans despite urging companies to adopt Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices.
“The question now is with the bank. Even though there has been a lot of pressure for us to transform towards green energy in order to cool the earth, the banks are saying ‘if I lend you the money, you might not be able to pay back.
“This is because there is no ‘guarantee’ that this one (transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy) will work. But to me, it will work,” he said.
He said this during the inaugural Borneo Energy Transition Conference (BETC2024) at Riverside Majestic Hotel here on Monday (Feb 26).
Abang Johari, who is also Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability pointed to the success of the first era of steam engines using coal.
“Then from using coal to fossil fuel worked, don’t tell me fossil fuel to renewable energy cannot work,” he said, pointing out that the world is now heading towards renewable energy in an effort to mitigate climate change.
“Initially there was scepticism when Sarawak ventured into hydrogen production. The perception when it comes to hydrogen would be related to hydrogen bombs.
“But, it depends on one’s objective. Sarawak’s objective is to produce (renewable) energy. So, that is how I have convinced the old generation.
“In other words, we really want to become a clean energy supplier. That is Sarawak’s position and I am sure Malaysia is the same,” he said.
Earlier, Abang Johari mentioned Sarawak’s strength was that there are abundant resources of water, forest, wind, and sunlight to produce renewable energy.
“We are experimenting using special blades to produce solar-wind energy.
“Whether the South China Sea is enough to turn the blade, apparently, we worked with Shell on their Timi Platform on solar and wind. And it works.
“They generate their own power on that platform. When that happens, you scale it up and then produce another clean energy,” he said.
He added the Sarawak government has also taken a bold step to produce hydrogen despite hydrogen production being costly at the present moment.
“But, sometimes you have to take the risk. Nothing is simple. You know you have the resources, so you take the risk by transforming our public transport using fuel cells.
“That is why we have our Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) vehicles using hydrogen. I think it is the first in this region to use hydrogen for public transport,” he said.
Over time due to technology advancement, he said, the production cost of hydrogen would be lesser.
“Furthermore, Sarawak is focusing on producing green methanol and green ammonia.
“As you know Maersk has changed their shipping vessels to using methanol and with that background, if we have methanol, then the other value chain particularly bunkering facility will change in order to supply energy to them,” said Abang Johari.
