Sime Darby, Tenaga Nasional, Mitsui plan biogas power projects at Malaysian palm oil mills

(ADPnews) - Apr 5, 2011 - Sime Darby Plantation, part of Malaysian agricultural group Sime Darby (KUL:SIME), local utility Tenaga Nasional (KUL:TENAGA) and Japanese Mitsui & Co (TYO:8031) plan to develop biogas projects at eight of Sime Darby's palm oil mills in Malaysia.

The three companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding to conduct a two-year feasibility study on the technical feasibility and financial viability of the potential biogas power developments. If the results of the study are positive, Sime Darby Plantation will provide sites for the facilities at its palm oil mills; Tenaga will support the projects when it comes to grid-connection, maintenance and operations; and Mitsui will assist with the technical design and carbon financing.

"We are confident that the result of the study would be positive and that the three parties would come out of the feasibility study with the proper data to generate electricity at our palm oil mills and further strengthen their green credentials," said Franki Anthony Dass, executive vice-president of Sime Darby Plantation.

At present Sime Darby Plantation owns 40 palm oil mills in Malaysia and 22 in Indonesia. The company expects to launch biogas power generation projects not only at the eight sites included in the feasibility study, but in other locations.

The share of renewables in Malaysia's energy mix is now less than 1%. The country plans to bolster the figure to 5.5% or 985 MW by 2015 and to 11% by 2020. Tenaga has already contracted the power output from 21 green energy projects with a combined capacity of 291 MW.

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