TNB building RM180m solar plant in Kedah
KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is raising its target to provide up to 1,700 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy by 2025 with another large scale solar (LSS) project in Kedah.
The RM180 million project in Bukit Selambau involves the installation of 134,880 solar photovoltaic panels on a 50ha site.
The project is being developed by TNB Bukit Selambau Solar Sdn Bhd, a whollyowned subsidiary of TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd.
TNB chairman Tan Sri Leo Moggie said it would not only be a landmark for Bukit Selambau, but also provided socio-economic spillover effects to people within the vicinity.
“This LSS project will provide job opportunities when the project is being developed,” he said at the project’s groundbreaking, here, on Sunday.
According to Leo Moggie, the LSS project was expected to be completed within the next 24 months with the commercial operation target date on December 31 next year.
It will be developed by the same team that built the country’s first major LSS in Sepang, Selangor.
The groundbreaking of the LSS project was officiated by Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir yesterday.
“The state government hopes that TNB will submit its bids to increase the capacity of the LSS project in Bukit Selambau, which can achieve generation up to 100MW,” he said.
Mukhriz said if TNB managed to increase the LSS project capacity to 100MW, it would turn Bukit Selambau into a solar town.
TNB said the LSS project with a capacity of 30MW marked another milestone in its journey to provide renewable energy totalling 1,700MW by 2025, in line with the government’s 20 per cent renewable energy goal.