OVERVIEW OF HYDROPOWER IN MALAYSIA AS RENEWABLE

ENERGY: A REVIEW OF WATER-ENERGY SECURITY

CHALLENGES

JANSEN LUIS1
Floor 13A, Amcorp Tower, Amcorp Trade Center,
No.18, Jalan Persiaran Barat, 46050 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
jansenla@tnb.com.my

ABSTRACT

Peninsular Malaysia is targeted to have a steady average annual electricity growth rate of 3.1%. While Malaysia
is still relying heavily on gas and coal for power generation, constant pressure is mounting on global leaders to
cut greenhouses gases and limit the state of global warming. In order to realize the goal, hydropower which utilizes
freshwater is identified as sustainable and low carbon energy source and plays an important role in terms of energy
security. In many developed and developing countries, hydropower energy contributes averagely 16% of
worldwide power generation and about 85% of renewable electricity. However, with the constant threat from
climate change hydropower is at great vulnerability due to reduced source of fuel which is water. The impact of
climate change was experienced first-hand by TNB in terms of water management especially during the flood
events that took place in 2014 where Kenyir Dam successfully contained one of the greatest flood events
experienced in Malaysia. Many international forum and meets has come to an agreement that renewable energy
technologies and resources should be expanded yet the biggest challenge in the near future would be to manage
climate change which will probably lead to changes in the hydrological regime including increased variability and
more frequent hydrological extremes (floods and droughts). With the aim to increase the use of renewable energy
in Malaysia, the Malaysian Government and TNB has embarked on a future expansion plan. In this context, the
need for multipurpose hydropower development can be expected in Malaysia for the coming years.

This paper therefore aims to discuss the present water-energy security challenges based on the issues on water
and natural disaster in Malaysia especially related to hydropower and the initiatives taken to address the matter.

KEYWORDS: Hydropower, Energy Security, Climate Change

1. INTRODUCTION

All dams and reservoirs are designed to store flood-waters, primarily for the benefit of human beings. The
damming of streams and rivers has been an integral part of human civilization from its early history. Reservoirs
and dams are constructed by human to deal with the need of water and power. Dams and reservoirs are constructed
primarily to function as multipurpose functions including as flood control, drinking water, agricultural water
supply, hydro power generation, recreation and others (Braga et al. 1998; Verghese 2001; Vyas 2001). Malaysia
has been blessed with abundance of rainfall throughout the year which provides ample water for hydropower
generation.

The Generation Division of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) oversees six thermal power stations comprising of
conventional gas and oil-fired plants and three major hydroelectric power generating schemes. The total plant set
up in Malaysia has a generating capacity of 8,636 MW which in financial year (FY) 2014 contributed to 40.7%
of total generation in Peninsular Malaysia, an increase from 35.1% in the previous financial year. Peninsular
Malaysia recorded an electricity growth of maximum demand of 16,562 MW on 13th May 2013, surpassing the
initial target of 16,324 MW by 1.5% and the previous year with a record of 15,826 MW by 4.7%. This trend
indicates that the daily energy growth is steadily increasing in Peninsular Malaysia. Meanwhile a new peak
demand of 16,901MW was recorded in June 2014 which marked a 2.0% increase from 16,562 MW in May 2013,
with a 2.5% growth of electricity consumption (TNB, 2014). It is projected that future sales of electricity will
increase by an average of 3.1% per year (EC, 2014).

1 Senior Engineer (Hydro Structure), Centre of Expertise, Energy Ventures Division, Tenaga Nasional Berhad
(jansenla@tnb.com.my)
2. ENERGY SECURITY ISSUES

International Energy Agency (2013a), defines energy security as “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources
at an affordable price” while addressing the environmental concerns. Conventionally, higher oil prices have forced
for the need for cheaper alternative energy supply and technologies. Future energy outlook has shown that even
though fossil fuel dominates the future energy supply well into the 21st century, alternative fuels such as
hydropower projects are expected to play an important role in the energy mix. Dependence solely on fossil fuels
such as oil, coal and natural gas possess both economic and security risks. Malaysia meanwhile, still relies heavily
on gas and coal for power generation where for FY2014, gas made up 53.8% of the total energy generated by
TNB, followed by coal (35.3%), hydro (10.3%), distillates (0.6%) and medium fuel oil (0.04%). A summary of
the electricity generation produced by TNB is shown in Fig 1.

Energy Production by TNB

0.60%
0.04%
10.30%

Gas

Coal

Hydro
35.29% 53.78%
Distillates

MFO

Figure 1: Energy production in Malaysia (TNB, 2014)

All across Asia, there is a growing need to develop more hydropower to meet their future energy demands.
International Energy Agency (IEA, 2013 b) states that “the current trends in energy supply and use are
unsustainable”. A strategic transformation is required urgently to meet the future energy supply. Therefore
sustainable and low carbon energy technologies such as hydropower will play a pivotal role in terms of energy
security. It plays an important role in electricity energy mix in many developed and developing countries where
is contributes to 16% of worldwide power generation and about 85% of renewable electricity. Fig 2 shows the
regional potential of hydropower capacity.

Figure 2: Regional hydropower technical potential in terms of annual generation and installed capacity, and
percentage of undeveloped technical potential (IJHD, 2010).
Apart for the renewable energy benefits, hydropower provides additional benefits such as flood storage and
controlled water flows and overall water management. The 7th World Water Forum executive summary provides
several actions needed in managing water and natural disasters. It cites the need to address climate change which
has a direct impact on water management.

3. RESULTS

Though some study has been done to observe the climate change in Malaysia, to date no major studies had been
conducted to study the link between climate change and energy security. The difficulty in the prediction of the
supply and demand is that it’s not only affected by the climate change but several other dynamic factors which
include economic growth, land use, population growth, distribution, technological changes, social and cultural
changes. However some direct relationship based on climate changes towards energy security can be expressed
as follows:

Increase in drought effects the duration of hydropower operation due to limited water inflows;

Increase in extreme flood inflows especially during monsoon seasons introduces rapid reservoir sedimentation
in storage reservoir as experienced at Cameron Highlands which causes operational difficulties and frequent
downstream flood releases;

Higher maintenance and replacement cost for transmission and distribution assets due to damages and
prolonged outages caused by extreme climate events as seen during major floods in Johor 2006/2007 and
Kelantan in 2014.

Climate change scientists predict that with rising temperatures, the start of the monsoon will arrive later in the
year, lengthening the time between rains and increasing the region’s vulnerability to drought. The unpredictability
and volatility in precipitation, is expected to affect hydropower generation. Therefore the role of hydropower
dams in flood and water flow management is becoming more complex. Apart from energy the water stored in the
reservoir if properly designed and planned can also be used for other purposes such as irrigation, water supply,
aqua culture and aqua tourism. Over the years hydropower reservoir has successfully managed to contain large
floods which would have led to catastrophic flooding downstream should the dam do not exist. Such event was
noticed in Puah reservoir at Hulu Terengganu catchment recently. Fig 3 shows the increase in reservoir levels in
2014 due to extreme heavy rainfall which was captured in the newly constructed dam.

Figure 3: Flood event observed at Puah reservoir during December 2014

4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The demand for water and energy security on a global scale is predicted to increase greatly in future. Many
international forum and meets has come to an agreement that renewable energy technologies and resources should
be expanded. This includes hydropower which is required to be substantially increased with a sense of urgency.
Yet the biggest challenge in the near future would be to manage climate change which will probably lead to
changes in the hydrological regime including increased variability and more frequent hydrological extremes
(floods and droughts). This will introduce additional uncertainty into water resource management. Creating
reservoirs would be the only way to capture uneven distribution of water due to the natural environmental process
and especially during floods. There is also a growing need for thorough use of water resources such as domestic
water, irrigation, industrial water and of course for hydropower. In this context, the need for multipurpose
hydropower development can also be expected in Malaysia for the coming years. In order to achieve the
sustainable development of these projects various mitigation and enhancement measures have to be integrated at
the early stage of project planning.

In line with recommended renewable energy aspirations, under the Malaysia Generation Development Plan (2014)
up to 2024, Energy Commission of Malaysia approved that several major hydropower projects would be
developed to meet Malaysia’s future energy demand and to compliment the sustainable energy requirements. The
recommendations includes the development of new major hydroelectric plants which is targeted to have a total
estimated capacity of 1,480 MW or an additional of 44% which will be developed and commissioned in stages
between 2015 right up to 2024 to add to the existing 1,899 MW capacities. The total large-scale hydroelectric
plant capacity of 3,259 MW by 2024 is expected to serve system peaking requirement for years to come.

Alternatively TNB is also looking at further development to maximize the full potential of the existing hydropower
scheme such as the Talong-Sengoh Diversion Tunnel Project which would see water diverted through a 20 km
underground tunnel from upper reaches of Sg Talong and Sg Sengoh in Temengor catchment in Perak to Pergau
reservoir in Kelantan. The project is expected to increase the storage capacity in Pergau reservoir by almost 50%
which could be used for peak demand power generation. Once implemented, the project is expected to produce
more than 200 GWh/year of energy using the renewable source. Another similar project enhancement would be
the Ulu Jelai Pump Storage Project in which the system would store energy in the form of gravitational potential
energy of water, pumped from a lower reservoir to a higher reservoir. The pumping is carried out during off peak
hours with lower cost electric. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through
turbines to produce power when the electricity price is the highest. Once implemented, the project would see a
first pump storage scheme with an installed capacity of 1050 MW making it one of the largest hydropower
schemes in Peninsular Malaysia. The project would also complement TNB’s direction towards maximizing the
use of renewable energy.

Apart from building new dams for hydropower, another area that was recommended is the need for better
efficiency in water utilization. Under the category “smart system” TNB has embarked on a holistic smart grid
system to manage consumption and indirectly to reduce operational cost and improve efficiency. The smart grid
is an electricity network utilising digital technology and connects suppliers, distributors and consumers. It is
expected to address key area such as optimization of energy assets which includes hydropower, energy security
and environmental sustainability. The smart gird system is expected to realize benefits in terms of reduction in
carbon emission, improvement in reliability of energy supply, increase choice of power from green energy,
improve operational efficiency and reducing energy consumption.

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