BAKUN HITS HALF-WAY MARK

SECOND TALLEST.... A view of the 207m-tall structure that is the Bakun Dam.

KUCHING: Bakun Hydroelectric Dam’s current output has hit 1,200MW, or 50 per cent of its true potential. Second Minister of Resource Planning and Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the electricity generated was not meant for domestic households.

“Bakun Dam is meant to meet the demand of various industries, especially the energy-hungry industry. At the moment,

four turbines are already running.

“All in all, it has eight turbines with a full capacity of generating 2,400MW of electricity,” he told reporters after launching Kosmo!, a Bahasa Malaysia tabloid, at Wisma Sumber Alam here yesterday.

On power tariff from the dam, Awang Tengah said it depended on business negotiations between Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and investors.

Bakum Dam is located on the Balui River, a tributary of the Rajang River, and some 60 kilometres west of Belaga.

It came online last August, and in terms of height it soars 207 metres, making it the second tallest concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRD) in the world.

It’s reservoir surface area spans nearly 70,000 hectares, about the size of Singapore. (theborneopost)