Julaihi visits Austrian energy supplier Verbund to study its operations

KUCHING (July 12): Minister of Public Utility and Telecommunications Dato Sri Julaihi Narawi led a state delegation to visit the Verbund Energy4Business GmBH in Vienna, Austria on Tuesday.

The purpose of the visit was to see how the main green hydro electrical energy supplier generates energy from their power plant on the Danube River, according to a post on Julaihi’s Facebook page.

Among the delegation were officers from Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB).

Julaihi said Verbund has an installed capacity of 6,600 MW with an annual average generation of 24.8 kwH.

“About 90 per cent of energy produced by Verbund is from hydropower and 51 per cent of the company share equity is held by the Austrian government,” he said.

He added the delegation was briefed by Dr Klaus Hebenstreit and his three colleagues, who informed them the power plant in Vienna was built in 1947.

“Aside from Vienna, Verbund also produces energy and is developing the Kaprun Pumped Storage Power Plant in a mountainous location some 1.5 hours from Salzburg, Austria.

“In Kaprun, we managed to visit Plant 3 (which is estimated to generate 480 MW) which has reached 75 per cent completion of the construction stage. It is located some 450 metres underground and is only reachable through a 5.5km long tunnel.

“This is fantastic and sophisticated technology. There, we were given a special briefing by its senior technician Fabian Kumer.

“After Plant 3, we visited the already completed Plant 2, which has been operational since 2011. The plant produces 480 MW of energy. After Plant 2, we visited the dam reservoir at the head of the Danube River, which is the source for the Kaprun Pump Storage and other plants in Vienna,” he said.

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River was set up in 1998 and is tasked to manage and administer the Danube River which flows through 19 countries, Julaihi added.

The delegates also visited the residence of Malaysian Ambassador to Austria, His Excellency Ikram Mohammad Ibrahim.