Oil trumps solar, wind, water

Dr Diana Cheong, CSPS

BRUNEI may be starting to look at its options on alternative energy, but oil and gas will remain the dominant energy source in the country while power from the sun, wind and water will just diversify the mix, a researcher from the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) said.

The centre just held a discussion with authorities and stakeholders from the public and private sectors about the most suitable and viable energy options for the Sultanate.

Dr Diana Cheong, CSPS senior researcher, spoke to The Brunei Times on the sidelines of the one-day CSPS conference about Brunei's alternative energy options as well as financial opportunities from adopting energy efficiency conservation (EEC) initiatives.

As of now, what are the options that look good for Brunei to take up? It seems that there is no clear answer from the presentations, what are your thoughts?

Some are quite clear, I thought. During their presentation, they summarised all the alternative energy that is possible for us so at least we know it's there. Without a feasibility study, we won't ever know. One specific project we will be pointing out at Forum 3 (meeting with stakeholders), is that solar has a clear high output. We're not talking about few hundreds, but thousands of megawatts. For example, in Tenaga Suria Brunei we already have 1.2MW, so there is potential for that. Wind is the other one that has potential, especially with a small onshore farm, we can already get two per cent of our total energy use. As for hydro, there is possibility for ground-works and other water dams in the country, but it will also have a small output like solar as previously mentioned.

But you mentioned that we cannot look at alternative energy purely based on financial gain or for short-term goals. What should we be focusing on then?

It's important to note that we aren't looking for alternative energy to replace oil and gas, because that will always be the dominant sector in Brunei. We are looking at alternative sources to put into the mix and diversify Brunei's situation. Unless we are looking to go big on solar, the outputs will be small but still be good. Our consultants have been quite clear with their proposals saying that it should not be one or the other, but multifaceted. Even with solar or wind, with the technology, there is no quick financial gain. When you want to go for alternative energy, there will be no short wins, but it will be a gradual thing. As mentioned solar technology cost is coming down with outputs rising 20 per cent a year, and cost coming down almost 30 per cent per year, over the past years.

We can't just look at making profits. For example, if we go into solar and the manufacturing of panels ... which we are very keen on, that will bring Brunei's capacity on research and development higher. It will provide a lot of jobs, so we must think of the spin-off effects.

R&D and innovation can make a lot of money for us, so it can be a lucrative solution if we do go into the creation of solar PV panels.

Aside from alternative energy, EEC doesn't only help with saving energy but can also lead to income, correct?

Referring to Pehin's (Dato Hj Yasmin) speech, he said it's time for us to change gears and with EEC measures, we can conserve and be more efficient on energy usage. In return, we can send the unnecessary use through oil and gas exports which will be beneficial for us As mentioned before, the Sultanate can be as energy efficient as Singapore, Japan or Germany in future. The Brunei Times