KOTA KINABALU: Sabah should pursue green energy sources such as solar instead of opting for coal for power generation, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) vice president Sim Fui said.
He said this is due to solar being the cheaper option for power generation.
Sim was responding to a statement by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wilfred Madius Tangau in a talk show recently that coal power was the cheapest option for power generation.
Madius also rationaled that West Malaysia and Sarawak have also used coal for power generation but they were set up more than 10 years ago.
"The question is whether there could be people with personal interest to sell obsolete and discarded coal power plants to Sabah.
"China, which was once known for mainly generating power using coal, is now pursuing green energy sources such as solar, mini hydro, biogas, waste-to-energy or even wind energy.
"It was also shocking that the new SESB chairman said there were too many people "playing romance with the environment" when Sabah should remain green and preserve its strong green branding around the world," he said in a statement.
"Environmentally, using coal means either Sabah has to barge the coal from Indonesia through the sensitive marine gems of Tun Sakaran Marine National Park, Sipadan and Mabul Islands, or mined its own coal, of which both options could be environmentally devastating for the state.
"This is exactly why the previous proposal of setting up the polluting coal fired power plant in Sandakan and Lahad Datu was fiercely rejected by Sabahans.
"The mistake cost a lot of unnecessary delay in power generation and loss to SESB," he said.
Sim stressed that Sabah must not repeat the mistakes of the past and must embrace the global trend for Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance, Net Carbon Zero aspiration by pursuing only Green Energy sources and not dirty energy sources such as Coal and diesel.
He questioned: "Does the new SESB chairman know that going forward any manufactured goods with non-green energy sources may be subject to carbon tax?
"How to attract manufacturers to set up plants in Sabah with non-green and non-ESG compliant energy sources?"