Energy efficiency, conservation study to prepare for Vision 2035

CREATING energy surpluses to help fuel economic growth is the key to ensuring Brunei achieves its vision of becoming one of the top ten Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) earning countries in 2035, said officials from the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS).

At a stakeholder forum held at the centre's headquarters in Gadong, various parties from government organisations heard a briefing by CSPS representatives on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EEC) project which will be conducted to determine levels of energy use in the Sultanate and possible venues for conservation.

Japanese consultants from the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) were invited to present their outline of the six-month long study.

Tetsuya Enomoto, MRI's consultant for its Energy Strategy group from the Environment and Energy Research Division, noted that there was a need for this study to be done. He said, "Frankly, in this country, energy (is) not that efficiently used and this is a (problem) because energy is much cheaper here than other countries, it's heavily subsidised. So, (CSPS) want to know how the energy is consumed right now and where the energy is wasted."

The study will look in depth, he said, at various sectors of power use such as industrial and commercial, to analyse how the energy is consumed in each area and how much energy conservation potential there is.

Dr Diana Cheong, Senior Researcher at CSPS, said that the study had been in the pipeline for quite a while and since appointing the selected consultants, the main reason for looking specifically into issues of energy use and conservation was to help Brunei achieve its goals for the Wawasan 2035 (Vision 2035) or the National Development Plan, which aims to bring the nation into the top ten cities of highest earning GDP in the year 2035.

"To achieve the goals of Wawasan 2035 ... we calculated that (Brunei) needs to have a growth of six per cent per annum, (and) we definitely cannot carry on business as usual in terms of our economic activities (if we are to achieve this)," Cheong said about the urgent need to look ahead in the future.

With economic diversification as the "main catchphrase" of Wawasan 2035, Cheong noted that on CSPS' part, the organisation was looking for alternative venues to help this diversification process.

The answer would lie in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), she said, to help bring more international strength in building the ecomony.

"One major component would be to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), (to) get them to come and be interested in investing in Brunei, especially in creating a few multinationals such as methanol industries," she said.

She acknowledged the reality of not acting fast enough, adding that "these industries cannot operate if we don't have the energy supply (to meet their demand), and CSPS has identified that there is currently not enough energy supply".

To resolve this, surpluses of energy would be needed to fuel economic growth.

Dato Dr Hj Ismail Hj Duraman, Executive Director of CSPS, confirmed economic growth as the "driving force" behind the energy conservation study, adding that while the cost of the contract for the study was in the millions, it was something necessary to ensure the level of recommendations would match the standard of the expertise hired.

The Brunei Times