PESTECH International Bhd has expressed interest in the recently announced 1,000MW Large Scale Solar (LSS) programme, under the Malaysia Electricity Industry to Attract Renewable Energy Investment (LSS@MenTARI) from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA) via the Energy Commission.
However, the infrastructure player has not yet come to a decision on whether or not it would bid for the programme, which is set to start on May 31.
Paul Lim, group CEO of Pestech, noted that this is a commendable initiative by the government, especially in limiting the programme to fully-owned local companies or listed companies with at least 75% local shareholding.
“This will stimulate local economic activity, and there will be a large spillover effect into the rest of the economy to help with the Covid-19 slump,” he said, adding that while Pestech has the technology and the know-how, no decision has been made as of yet.
He also shared that the capital expenditure for this programme is somewhere in the region of US$600 mil (about RM2.6 bil).
The programme was announced by KeTSA minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah on May 28, with 1,000MW of solar quota being offered through the bidding process. This is also the largest quota under the LSS programme that has been offered, and is aimed at accelerating the development of the nation’s electricity supply industry, especially for renewable energy.
The ministry had set the maximum bidding capacity from each developer at 50MW compared to the 100MW capacities of previous iterations, to provide more opportunities for industry players to participate.
“Each developer can make a maximum of only three bids. The period to submit the documents is three months compared with six months to ensure the project implementation can start before the end of 2020,” said the minister.
The ministry expects this iteration of the programme to attract investments totalling RM4 bil and generate 12,000 job opportunities, as 1MW of solar can create 12 jobs.
According to Shamsul Anuar, the power plants under the LSS@MenTARI programme are expected to start operating by Dec 31, 2023 at the latest, as the development of each plant would take up to 18 months. - May 29, 2020