TNB eyes investment opportunities in renewable energy

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is looking to explore investment opportunities in renewable energy (RE) projects in developed and developing countries, said president/chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Ir Azman Mohd.

He said the investments would be based on TNB’s guidelines as in some ventures, which would probably be a bit conservative, yet strategic to the company in terms of yield, while not exceeding the optimum gearing level of 55 per cent.

“We are open to many markets, but have a strict criteria, in wanting to ensure every investment made provides the right sort of return and creates value for our shareholders.

“We are still very much looking towards developing countries, with a 70:30 guideline (70: developing and 30: developed),” he told reporters after TNB’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Azman said the expansion plan was in line with TNB’s Strategic Plan 2017-2025, which focuses on RE.

We are open to many markets, but have a strict criteria, in wanting to ensure every investment made provides the right sort of return and creates value for our shareholders. Datuk Seri Ir Azman Mohd, TNB president/chief executive officer

By 2025, the giant utility aims to have a 30 per cent earnings contribution from RE, and the rest from conventional sources, which currently contribute more than 90 per cent.

On 2018’ s recurring capital expenditure (capex), Azman said TNB tends to incur between RM6 billion to RM7 billion per annum for the transmission distribution grid, while additional capex of up to RM3.5 billion would be allocated for the generation capacity, which includes RE.

Asked if TNB was selling its stake in Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), TNB Chief Financial Officer, Datuk Fazlur Rahman Zainuddin said as of now, the company had made no decision on the matter and was still in discussions with the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA).

He said there were sustainability issues in terms of cost to generate electricity in Sabah and its about time to reconsider or review the situation to make SESB more sustainable.

“Sabah is looking at the overall electricity industry structure from tariff setting to fuel mix, subsidies, cost of operations and others.So, there are quite a few things that need to be addressed before we even talk about ownership,” he added.

He believed the government, through KeTTHA, would come to an agreement on the review by next year and hoped to see “what was the best option in this case”.

TNB owns a 80 per cent stake in SESB, while the state government holds the balance 20 per cent. — Bernama