The unbearable feeling of missing chances

 

Malaysia has had hydro power stations since the 1930s, but what's unfortunate is that it does not have a company with the ability to build a hydro power plant.

I SOMETIMES wonder if Malaysia had missed some wonderful opportunities along the years. My visit to the Kenyir hydro power plant in Terengganu recently made me wonder again.

Malaysia has had hydro power stations since the 1930s. The country now has 15 such plants in Peninsular Malaysia. What's unfortunate is that Malaysia does not have a company with the ability to build a hydro power plant.

There are basically two main components to a power plant - civil works that include land clearing and building construction, and the mechanical works or the installation of the actual electricity generators.

While many local companies have the ability to do civil works, no local firm can develop the crucial parts like boilers and turbines, stuff that is the heart of a power plant.

This is the mainstay of foreign firms from Europe, the US and Japan. Because mechanical works are effectively the development of the power plant itself, this component is the most expensive, making up more than half the total cost.

This means that over the last 50 years, tens of billions of ringgit have flown out of the country as we had more plants to consume more and more electricity. What we could have done was to ask foreign companies to teach local companies how to do the work ourselves.

We would have had the upper hand because these foreign firms wanted a slice of a growing market. In the 1960s or 70s, Malaysia was a very young country, which meant that we would quickly become hungry for power to grow our industries.

You might argue that even if there was a Malaysian company that could build a power plant, surely the local market is not that big. True, power plants are not built every year and our population is only 27 million people.

But look at what's happening now. The spike in natural gas and coal prices has raised concerns over our ability to secure the fuel needed in the future. The heavily subsidised gas that's pumped from offshore Terengganu and given to power plants to use is running out.

As a result, the world suddenly turned its attention to alternative energy sources like hydro, solar and wind, among others.

Malaysia is also affected and we had decided to complete the mammoth Bakun hydro plant to support the Peninsular's future energy needs. The rivers of Sarawak also have the potential to generate 28,000MW, which would be important for the country's future needs. That's another 12 hydro plants with the same size as Bakun.

The countries in Asean are also still developing, with a population of 550 million combined right now. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Asean will need more and more power plants to feed the electricity-hungry population.

All this spells opportunity for a local company with the ability to build a power plant. But then again, this is just a lament of what might have been. Some may even tell me it's a waste of time, but I think philosopher George Santayana said it best: those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.