Nga said the government is also working with state governments, local councils as well as strategic partners for the implementation of WTE projects in every state.
PETALING JAYA: The Local Government Development Ministry (KPKT) encourages private finance initiatives (PFI) in renewable energy (RE) in line with the country’s aim to become South-East Asia’s RE powerhouse.
KPKT minister Nga Kor Ming said the move towards RE is a national mission and the government welcomes PFIs such as the waste-to-energy (WTE) facility built by Berjaya Enviro Parks Sdn Bhd’s (BEPSB) at Bukit Tagar Enviro Park (BTEP) which can produce 12MW of RE power.
The electricity power generated from the facility is be sold to Tenaga Nasional Bhd
for an estimated income of about RM25mil per year.
“The more PFIs, the better,” Nga said at the WTE plant, adding at present only 3% of the nation’s power energy is obtained from RE resources.
“There is room for expansion and our mission now is to increase that 3% to 40% of RE by 2035. There is at least 10 times growth needed to achieve this,” he said.
Nga said the government is also working with state governments, local councils as well as strategic partners for the implementation of WTE projects in every state.
He said by attaining the target of zero waste, more investments can be pulled in and plenty more high-income jobs be created.
The 12MW plant in BTEP is an initiative by KPKT through the Department of Solid Waste Management with BEPSB in ensuring sustainability of the national solid waste management system in Malaysia.
BTEP was designed for the disposal of 2,500 tonnes of solid waste and has a lifespan of 120 years.
The facility has disposed of 17 million tonnes of solid waste from Kuala Lumpur alone ever since beginning operations in April 2005.
The plant has successfully converted methane gas from solid waste into RE, amounting to 339 million kW joules of electricity, which was channelled to the national grid.
“This amount is very encouraging. It makes BTEP the largest RE producer from landfill gas in Malaysia and South-East Asia,” Nga said.
The energy produced reduces about 2.7 million tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 43.6 million saplings planted in 10 years, a reduction of 296 million liters of petrol consumption as well as 570,000 cars driven every year, in line with the Clean Development Mechanism by the United Nations.
The WTE plant is in line with the government’s policy through KPKT to develop at least one waste management facility based on the WTE concept in each state of Malaysia.
BEPSP is said to have invested an initial investment of RM310mil to build the WTE plant, with an additional RM72mil invested later taking the total investment amount to RM382mil.
