Contract to Malakoff to build 1,000MW power plant expected soon

STAR, 3 June 2011

PETALING JAYA: Malakoff Corp Bhd, owned by MMC Corp Bhd, is expected to be awarded a contract to build a 1,000MW coal-fired power plant soon, said sources.

According to sources, the plant will have a 15-year concession to sell the power at a rate of 25 sen per kwh to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

“MMC has yet to receive the award letter but the decision has been made already, based on tender submissions,” said one source.

In August, the Energy Commission had awarded a concession to TNB to develop a 1,000MW coal-fired power plant on its existing power plant site in Manjung Perak.

Malakoff’s Tanjung Bin power plant in Johor

 

At that time, the industry was abuzz with the possibility of a new tender for another coal-fired power plant of the same capacity being called up soon.

Certain quarters believed that Malakoff, the owner of the 2,100MW Tanjung Bin power plant in Johor, stood a good chance of winning the tender.

A Bernama report earlier this year, quoting Energy Commission chairman Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, said the Government was likely to decide on the concessionaire for the second 1,000MW plant this month.
The commission had issued a request for proposals from MMC Corp's unit, Malakoff and Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd, with regards to this, the report said, adding that the plant could either be at Tanjung Bin in Johor or Jimah in Negri Sembilan.

The urgency to ramp up electricity-generation capacity in Peninsular Malaysia is to avert a potential power shortage by 2015 and make up for the “lost” supply of 1,600MW from the Bakun Dam in Sarawak, which was initially supposed to be supplied to the peninsula.

According to the commission, the peninsula could face a power shortage by 2015 based on the Government's targeted growth rate of 6% per year for the next five years for the country's economy.

Electricity demand in the peninsula has already been growing between 5% and 8% every year.
Industry experts said that based on the demand growth trend, the current electricity reserve margin of about 42% could be halved if there were no new plant-ups soon.

One of the major concerns in this regard is to make sure that the electricity reserves margin does not fall below the 20%-mark by 2015.

Electricity consumption per capita in Malaysia now stands at about 3,412 kwh per annum, significantly higher than most developing countries, but still below the average in developed countries.

It is projected to more than double to 7,571 kwh per person in 2030, higher than that of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation region's average of 6,833 kwh per person.