Angkasa to build maiden solar powered farm in Kedah

PETALING JAYA: The National Cooperative Movement of Malaysia Bhd (Angkasa) will set up its maiden solar-powered generation farm in Kedah for economic and agricultural activities.
Construction on the Sungai Tiang farm in the Pendang district will begin next month and Angkasa hopes it will begin operations as a solar plant next March.
Angkasa president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah said it would be the first cooperative to install the one-megawatt solar farm and green house in the state.
He said the project involved production of electricity for sale, and agricultural activities under solar roofing, as high as three metres, on a three-and-a-half acre land in Sungai Tiang.
He said the project would be awarded to Angkasa's subsidiary, MYANGKASA Services Sdn Bhd (MSSB).
Abdul Fattah said this at a press conference after a contractual agreement was signed between MSSB and Smart SL Technology Sdn Bhd and their partner, Linuo Power from China here today.
A Renewable Energy and Power Purchase Agreement was also signed between MSSB and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).
The solar-powered generation farm costing RM9.7 million is expected to generate a minimum gross income of RM100,000 per month or RM25 million throughout the power purchase contract period with TNB within 21 years.
Meanwhile, Abdul Fattah hoped other cooperatives would be involved in producing solar power for households nationwide.
"This project will also directly source solar energy to companies, but we are also looking at ways for other cooperatives to sell solar energy to homes," he said.
Meanwhile, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa was waiting for an approval policy from the education ministry to enable the apex body for cooperative movement to provide solar energy in schools.
"This project will begin in a small scale, but we are hoping to produce solar power at a larger scale.
"We are also applying to the government to open tenders for us to build more solar farms," he added. — Bernama