01/02/2010 (The Star Online), Batu Pahat - A grassroots coalition in Sabah, which is against the 300MW coal-fired power plant proposal in Lahad Datu, is backing Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok’s vision of sourcing the state’s energy from its hundreds of palm oil mills.

Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-power the Future) called on Dompok to work with the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry to formulate policies that would expedite the process.

Officiating at a biogas plant here on Tuesday, Dompok said the country’s 411 palm oil mills were potential independent power producers of green energy.

He said, unlike in West Malaysia that had no issues with electricity supply from power plants, and Sarawak that had hydro power, Sabah could look at palm oil mills as a source of electricity.

“This is the way that Malaysia should go, and the way the world is heading. Palm oil mill effluents and empty fruit bunches are waste products that add to global warming by producing large amounts of greenhouse gases,” Green SURF spokesperson Cynthia Ong said.

Methane from the effluents and from composting of empty fruit bunches were proven to be biomass-based renewable energy and promoted as climate-change mitigation measure for developing countries in the fight against global warming.

Green SURF comprises five non-governmental organisations — Land Animal Empowerment People, Malaysian Nature Society’s Sabah Branch, Partners of Community Organisations, Sabah Environmental Protection Association and World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia.

The group was pleased that Dompok understood that an obstacle to green independent power producers lay in the poor feed-in tariffs paid by Tenaga Nasional to renewable-energy producers like palm oil mills.

He said, apart from providing funds for the development of renewable energy, the Government should consider increasing the tariff on green energy from 21 sen per unit to between 29 sen and 40 sen.

“The minister has shown that, with the right attitude and vision, the answers can be found for any problem, particularly our energy needs.

“As the Prime Minister has stated, we need to think globally. We believe this is an opportunity for Malaysia to be a green-energy leader in the region,” Ong said.