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Tawau geothermal project in Malaysia abandoned and permit withdrawn

Tawau geothermal project in Malaysia abandoned and permit withdrawn Apas Kiri project site, Sabah, Malaysia (source: Tawau Green Energy)
Alexander Richter 6 Dec 2018

With the planned geothermal project in Apas Kiri, Tawau in Malaysia, the government has withdrawn the approval for the project. There is though a possibility for it to be put up again in an open tender.

As reported this morning from Malaysia, it seems like the geothermal project planned in Sabah by Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd has been abandoned.

The country’s Minister for Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, Yeo Bee Yin, recently visited the site and reported that it seems be abandoned with no obvious sign of any activity for quite some time.

The project in Apas Kiri, Tawau started development in July 2015 and was planned to start operation with a planned capacity of 37 MW in late 2017.

“For example, drilling has stopped in the third quarter of 2016 and slim hole had been closed…all cabins and drilling equipment are no longer at the site, no workers were found there and the area is covered with overgrowth,” she said during Ministers’ Question Time.

Due to the lack of progress, the country’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) already canceled the necessary development approval in August 2018.

With that geothermal development ambitions in Malaysia seem to have ended – at least for the time being – with incentive quota for the project now being redistributed to other “viable renewable energy projects especially biogas, biomass and hydro.”, as reported by Malay Mail.

But there is an option to put the project back up through open tender.

Source: Malay Mail