Four turbines of Malaysia's Bakun hydel dam to be commissioned

Sarawak Hidro will commission the remaining four of the eight turbines at Bakun hydroelectric dam by stages in the second half.

The installation of the fifth to eighth turbines from Argentina was in progress and that they would be commissioned in stages, said managing director Zulkifle Othman.

“Testing of the fifth turbine is expected to be carried out in March next year,” he noted.

The commissioning will ramp up full-power generation capacity.

Each turbine has a generation capacity of 300MW.

Zulkifle said 1,200MW of electricity was available for use by state-owned Sarawak Energy Bhd following the recent commissioning of the fourth turbine from Alstom.

He said SEB's daily consumption of Bakun power fluctuated between 300MW and 750MW.

“Whatever demand (from SEB), we will give,” he added.

Bakun dam in the upper Rejang River basin in central Sarawak has an installed capacity of 2,400MW.

For more.