Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui today confirmed that Sarawak Electric Supply Corporation (Sesco) will be signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, a unit of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and owner of the Bakun Dam tomorrow.

Sesco, a subsidiary of state owned Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB), is the state's sole electricity provider.

Chin also said that Sarawak was not buying the Bakun Dam.

"The state government is not buying the dam. They only want to buy the power for Score," he told Bernama.

To a question on the rate the power was being purchased, he declined to reveal details, adding that it will be known tomorrow after the signing ceremony.

Last week, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud revealed that SEB will be purchasing power at an attractive rate from Sarawak Hidro but did not disclose the cost.

The Sarawak government is believed have asked for the power to be sold at six sen per kilowatt hour.

Earlier in September last year, Taib announced that the state government had placed a bid of over RM6 billion to buy over the Bakun project from Putrajaya despite the dam’s entire bill rising above RM7.3 billion since work on it began in 1994.

The Sarawak government wanted the dam due to its confidence of higher power uptake from the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), initially projected at 500 MW in 2012. This is expected to rise to about 2,600 MW by 2015.

Currently, Sarawak’s capacity to generate electricity is at 1,300 MW, which exceeds the peak demand of 1,100 MW.

The Bakun Dam at the Balui River in the upper Rejang River basin and 37km upstream from Belaga, is the world’s second-tallest concrete rock-filled dam.

When all the eight turbines become fully operational, it will be able to generate up to 2,400 megawatts of electricity.

- Bernama