Details

Sabah is still a state that is largely rural with remote places across large geographical areas. It is the government's effort to raise the rural communities’ social development and economic growth by increasing the electricity supply to the rural areas which are often hindered by demographic and geographical conditions. In some rural areas, the distances from the generation and transmission infrastructure for grid-based electricity is not efficient due to high cost of long transmission lines needed to reach such communities.

On the other hand, many renewable energy solutions are in advanced states that are suitable for rural areas. In addition, the government has also provided necessary long-term, transparent and stable policy guidelines and regulatory system by providing the right conditions for investment such as sufficient infrastructure, incentives, technical and financial assistance to the private sector on renewable energy. However, the lack of knowledge and capacity in this field has delayed the implementation of renewable energy projects in the rural areas. Hence, the focus of the seminar would be on the following objectives:

• To provide latest information to the district level on how to activate and disseminate the application of renewable energy technologies;
• To engage both renewable energy experts, NGOs and rural community leaders on best solutions for renewable energy technology for their specific areas.
• To provide innovative ideas for the government to expedite the implementation of renewable energy in rural areas based on the recommendations from the group discussion.

Topics for the seminar:

• Issue and challenges on renewable energy Development in Sabah
• Renewable energy application in rural areas
• Opportunity and challenges on wind energy in Sabah
• Opportunity and challenges on wave energy in Sabah
• Issues and challenges of renewable energy application in rural areas