Sarawak Energy: Southeast Asia's sustainability benchmark

When Sarawak Energy acquired the 2,520 MW Bakun Hydroelectric Plant in 2017, Malaysia's largest renewable energy facility was already a feat of engineering — one of the world's most voluminous reservoirs, eight 300 MW turbines housed underground, a concrete-face rockfill dam rising 205 metres above its foundation. What it lacked was a systematic, internationally-recognised sustainability framework. Eight years later, Bakun has one, and it has become the standard against which large-scale hydropower in Southeast Asia is measured.

In 2025, Bakun received Silver certification under the Hydropower Sustainability Standard (HSS), following a rigorous, independent assessment by the Hydropower Sustainability Alliance. The assessment recognised the plant's strengthened performance in climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, community engagement, and corporate governance — and was announced at the Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum (SAREF) 4.0 in Kuching, witnessed by the Premier of Sarawak.

The community dimension of Bakun's story is as substantial as the plant itself. Under the Bakun Charitable Trust, education funds support Kayan, Kenyah, Kajang, and Penan communities across the Bakun Resettlement Scheme — with 951 students from Belaga benefiting from financial assistance since 2019. The Sarawak Energy Scholarship Programme, with an annual budget of RM16 million, reserves 30% of awards for students from host communities and low-income families. Fifteen longhouses and their 15,600 residents are covered by a dedicated longhouse adoption programme.

Sarawak Energy has been an active IHA member since 2010 and has committed to certifying all its hydropower plants under international sustainability standards by 2030. That pledge — alongside Bakun's 2025 IHA Blue Planet Prize win — sets the bar for the region and exemplifies why the only acceptable hydropower is sustainable hydropower.