Sarawak CM suggests LONGi Group to develop floating solar park

KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has thrown a proposal to the LONGi Group of China to explore the possibility of developing floating solar parks at dams and rivers in the state.
Instead of developing solar parks on land to produce energy, he suggested the new ways which if proven successful, would benefit the rural community which was still without electricity supply.
He said the energy produced from floating solar parks could be connected to the rural power grid to supply electricity to the rural community.
Abang Johari made the suggestion when he officiated at the launching ceremony of LONGi (Kuching) Sdn Bhd at Sama Jaya High Tech Park here today.
The company s the first integrated photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing base in a single location producing Mono Crystalline silicon ingots, wafers, cells and modules in the region.
Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia where the company produces the entire solar value chain from polycrystalline silicon in Samalaju to solar ingots, wafers, cells and modules in Sama Jaya Hi Tech Pak here.
Abang Johari said Sarawak offered one of the most competitive electricity tariffs in this region because of its huge hydropower potential.
"Besides powering the industries, we should also exploit our water resources for hydrogen fuel production, which is a new and clean energy source.
"In Japan, they are already talking about hydrogen society and we should take advantage of this new opportunity. Even our proposed LRT could be powered by hydrogen fuel," he said.
He said Sarawak was indeed, the right choice for LONGi, adding that within two years, LONGi had expanded aggressively to meet the growing demand of the global PV markets and its export value was expected to increase to RM1.5 billion this year. — Bernama