PETALING JAYA: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) commenced operation of its second large-scale solar (LSS) project in Bukit Selambau, Kedah, on Sept 8, 114 days ahead of schedule.
The 30-megawatt (MW) plant is equipped with 134,880 solar photovoltaic panels with 14 inverters. It was initially targeted to start operations on Dec 31.
TNB president and CEO Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said the commissioning of the plant despite the challenges brought by the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrates TNB’s experience and expertise in renewable energy (RE) development, specifically solar power plant projects.
He also said that the second LSS project has increased and strengthened TNB’s domestic LSS generation capacity which contributed 80MWac (123MWp) to the national grid.
TNB’s first LSS in Sepang, Selangor, with a generation capacity of 50MW has achieved commercial operation date in November 2018.
LSS Sepang Solar and LSS Bukit Selambau were both awarded by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry (now Energy & Natural Resources Ministry) through the Energy Commission via the LSS competitive bidding exercise programme 1 and programme 2 respectively.
Both plants were developed by TNB’s wholly owned subsidiary TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd (TRe). TRe is the asset management, operations and investment company arm of TNB that spearheads renewable energy projects and assets in Malaysia and in Southeast Asia. The company is aggressively seeking potential collaboration opportunities in the RE segment in Malaysia and the region.
Construction of LSS Bukit Selambau took 21 months including almost two months suspension due to the MCO. It was undertaken within budget by the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contractor, TNB Engineering Corporation Sdn Bhd, another wholly owned subsidiary of TNB.
TNB continues to work towards achieving its RE target of 1,700MW installed capacity by 2025, both domestically and internationally. This will contribute to the government’s own target of having 20% of the country’s electricity generation mix from renewable sources by 2025.
TNB’s total domestic and international portfolio currently stands at 750MW of solar and wind energy.
