BALI (Aug 25): Malaysia is stepping up efforts to improve the connectivity of the country’s national power grids with neighbouring countries.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and its counterpart in Indonesia, PT PLN (Persero), are to jointly study the feasibility of connecting the power grids of peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, Indonesia via the Strait of Malacca.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the purpose of collaborating on the study was inked between the two, as well as the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), in a ceremony held during the 41st ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM).

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“The peninsular Malaysia-Sumatra, Indonesia interconnection will be the first subsea cross-border interconnection in the region,” ACE said in a statement, adding that the feasibility study will determine the technical, financial and economic feasibility, as well as include a preliminary environmental impact assessment."

After witnessing the signing ceremony, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Change (NRECC) Nik Nazmi said the peninsular Malaysia-Sumatra, Indonesia agreement was an important step forward towards realising a grid interconnection between the two countries.

“The peninsular Malaysia-Sumatra interconnection idea was proposed many years ago, then it sort of took a back seat - as the costs just did not make sense at the time.

“But now, with higher energy prices and demand for renewable energy, we believe that [the grid] interconnection is viable,” he added.

Besides the peninsular Malaysia-Sumatra MOU, TNB also inked an MOU with Singapore’s SP PowerAssets Ltd to jointly undertake a feasibility study for a second power interconnection facility between peninsular Malaysia and the city-state.

Meanwhile, TNB unit Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), signed a separate MOU with PLN to conduct a feasibility study for a grid linkage between Sabah and Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Touching on the feasibility studies’ respective timelines, Nik Nazmi said parties are looking to complete the studies in “the next few years”.

Commenting on the Sabah-Kalimantan MOU, Nik Nazmi called the agreement a “win-win” for both Malaysia and Indonesia, reasoning that Sabah’s electricity supply - which is currently still facing shortages on its east coast - can benefit from the linkage, while Indonesia can also gain from the plan as it intends to develop Kalimantan’s infrastructure for the purpose of its planned new capital city of Nusantara.

Besides mulling further grid interconnectivity with Singapore, Nik Nazmi noted that peninsular Malaysia’s interconnectivity with Thailand may also need an upgrade, as he said the northern neighbour is showing interest in purchasing electricity from Malaysia.

He specified that discussions with Thailand were general in nature and mainly revolved around sharing reserves for balancing electricity supplies. He noted that peninsular Malaysia currently operates on a reserve margin of 30% to 40% excess capacity.

Besides TNB and PLN, another 11 MOUs were inked between ACE and various financial and research institutes in ASEAN to facilitate various energy transition efforts.

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