VIENNA: Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawi, the State Minister of Utility and Telecommunication, recently led a delegation on a working visit to Verbund Energy4Business GmbH, the main electricity supplier in Europe. Verbund generates power from a hydroelectric plant on the Danube River in Austria.
Julaihi highlighted that Verbund has an installed capacity of 6,600 Megawatts (MW) and produces an average annual generation of 24.8 kilowatt-hours (kWh).
“Approximately 90 per cent of the energy produced by Verbund comes from hydropower, and the Austrian government owns 51 per cent of Verbund’s shares,” he explained.
During the first day of the visit, the Ministry and the delegation from Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) were provided with a briefing on a power plant in Vienna. This particular power plant has been under development since 1947.
Apart from Vienna, Verbund also generates energy and is currently developing the Kaprun pumped storage power plant situated in a mountainous area approximately 1.5 hours away from Salzburg, Austria.
On the second day of the visit, the delegation travelled to the Kaprun plant in Salzburg, which took around 3.5 hours to reach Vienna.
“In Kaprun, we had the opportunity to inspect Plant 3, which is expected to produce 480 MW and is currently 75 per cent completed. It is located 450 meters underground via a special 5.5-kilometre-long tunnel,” Julaihi stated.
“We received a special briefing from Senior Technical Officer Fabian Kumer and then visited Plant 2, which has been completed and operational since 2011. It generates 480 MW of power.”
Julaihi further mentioned that after visiting Plant 2, they were taken to the dam site upstream of the Danube River. This dam serves as the water source for the Kaprun pumped storage plant and other plants in Vienna.
Before their visit to Verbund, the delegation also visited the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Established in 1998, the ICPDR is responsible for managing and administering the Danube River, which flows through 19 countries.
Datuk Sharbini Suhaili, the chief executive officer of SEB Group, also joined the working visit.
