OKTOBER 2020
A Milestone Achieved In Pursuit Of Hydrogen Economy
KUCHING: SEDC and its strategic partners from Japan today signed a tripartite MOU to explore the possibility of setting up a hydrogen plant in Bintulu.
SEDC subsidiary, SEDC Energy Sdn. Bhd. inked the MOU with Sumitomo Corporation and Eneos Corporation, both from Japan during a ceremony partly held virtually via Zoom at a local hotel.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Johari Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg.
The plant is scheduled for completion by 2023 with buy-back agreement with the Japanese partners.
Below is the full text of Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Johari Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg’s speech:
SPEECH BY
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
DATUK PATINGGI (DR) ABANG ZOHARI
BIN TUN DATUK ABANG HAJI OPENG
Chief Minister of Sarawak
in conjunction with the
“SIGNING CEREMONY OF TRIPARTITE
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
BETWEEN SEDC ENERGY SDN BHD AND SUMITOMO CORPORATION AND
ENEOS CORPORATION”
Dewan Asajaya
Grand Margherita Hotel,
Kuching 23 October 2020
1. First of all, I would like to thank Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) for inviting me to grace this afternoon’s signing ceremony on the “Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)” between SEDC Energy Sdn. Bhd. and its strategic partners from Japan namely, Sumitomo Corporation and Eneos Corporation. Congratulations to Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Aziz and SEDC for achieving this wonderful milestone and I am indeed happy to be given the honour to be with all of your in this auspicious occasion.
2. As the Chief Minister of Sarawak, I would like to welcome our guests from Japan namely Mr Hajime Mori, who is the Executive Officer and General Manager of Energy Division at Sumitomo Corporation and also Mr Miyata Tomohide, the Senior Vice President and Managing Executive Officer for Central Technical Research Laboratory, Hydrogen Business and Fuel Cell Customer Support of Eneos Corporation.
3. Even though today’s MoU signing ceremony has to be done virtually via Zoom under the new norms but I am indeed delighted to see that SEDC together with its strategic partners from Japan, are still able to move forward in their pursuit of developing a hydrogen production plant in Bintulu. This development augurs well for the future of Sarawak because the strategic partnership between SEDC and its Japanese partners will pave the way for us to venture further into the hydrogen economy agenda that is progressively being pursued by developed countries.
4. In today’s fast changing world, we are facing a lot of challenges in developing our economy and to enhance our renewable energy capacities in line with the green economic policy actively being adopted worldwide. Our common problem of carbon emission resulting from the use of fossil fuels is indirectly driving up the costs of living affecting all strata of our society and this need to be effectively addressed.
5. While some countries have already taken the mitigating steps in reducing the pressures of relying too much on fossil fuel but the challenge now is how the rest of the global community can take part in developing renewable energy which include production of clean hydrogen that will help in nature conservation, sustainable power generation and reduce carbon emission that causes global warming.
6. We cannot view the production of renewable energy as a form of damage control on the environment but the fact of the matter is that the next source of power supply for mankind must come from common things that we all have in our backyard such as natural water supply, the sun and even from the wind.
7. Like what Tan Sri Aziz has mentioned earlier, Sarawak is aiming to leverage on the abundance of raw materials that we have including the competitive electricity tariffs produced by our own hydropower dams which enables us to actually produce the hydrogen gas with cost effectiveness in mind where the production system itself must be viable in order to achieve sustainability in the long run.
8. I would like to record our appreciation to Sumitomo Corporation and Eneos Corporation for being the first strategic partners of SEDC in a collaboration for the development of Sarawak’s first and very own hydrogen plant in Bintulu.
9. Earlier in July this year, I have the opportunity to officiate at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Sarawak-owned methanol plant at the Sarawak’s Petrochemical Park (PetChem) in Bintulu. Once completed and fully operational, our Petchem plant is expected to create many job opportunities for our local folks and on top of it, it has the potential of contributing an additional RM16 to RM20 billion per annum to Sarawak’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
10. The timing of today’s MoU between SEDC, Sumitomo and Eneos is just nice because the large-scale hydrogen production facility in Bintulu can be completed and be ready by 2023 to meet the needs of potential buyers as the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles is expected to pick up by then. In fact the Sarawak government is requesting the federal government to reduce the import tax of hydrogen cars, or even imposed zero tax. The state-of-the-art plant itself can be scalable and to be further expanded for hydrogen production of 10,000 tons per year as the need arises.
11. Presently, both Australia and our neighbour, Brunei have already exported hydrogen to Japan using “toluene” as the carrier. Hydrogen is added to toluene to create methylcyclohexane [C7H14), a liquid that can be shipped safely in containers at room temperature to Japan where hydrogen is extracted at their dehydrogenation plant. As the project is are still under research and development (R&D), there would be further development especially on cost reduction measures.
18. To conclude, I wish to say all the best to SEDC and its strategic partners. I sincerely hope that today’s MOU will result in the realisation of the plant in Bintulu sooner rather than later. Once again, thank you.
Sumber dari : Sarawakku