1MDB and US firm in solar tie-up

Source of energy: The Integrated Renewable Energy Park that replaces the Pajam landfill.

PETALING JAYA: US private equity firm DuSable Capital Management LLC and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) will work together on the country’s largest 50MW solar farm in Kedah.

“DuSable will be the investment adviser to a private equity fund in which 1MDB will be a limited partner. The private equity fund and 1MDB are working together jointly to invest in a solar energy project in Malaysia,” according to documents filed with the US Department of Justice.

Further to that, 1MDB would reimburse costs incurred by DuSable arising from the development of the project and associated activities, the filing said.

“While the bulk of DuSable’s activities will relate to the development of the project, one aspect of DuSable’s activities will be to communicate with US Government officials to encourage the US Government to provide non-financial support for a Malaysian solar energy project.

“There is no formal agreement specifying such communications or activities,” DuSable said in the document.

Last week, 1MDB announced that it had won yet another power project following the signing of a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

TNB said it had signed a PPA to buy power to be generated by 1MDB Solar Sdn Bhd’s solar photovoltaic (solar PV) plant in Kedah. TNB said the PPA provided that 1MDB would design, construct, own, operate and maintain a solar PV plant generating facility with a capacity of 50MW alternate current (MWac).

StarBiz had earlier reported that 1MDB‘s proposed 50 MW solar farm was the result of a “direct negotiation” with the Government. It will also become by far the largest in the country.

It is also understood that 1MDB’s power plant agreement with the Government came about as a result of direct negotiations between 1MDB and the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, with both the Energy Commission and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia playing a smaller role.

On its website, DuSable said the company focused on energy and infrastructure opportunities around the world. Its strategy will see it target equity and debt investments in companies involved in the “production, storage, and transportation” of alternative energy in the United States and in emerging markets, including Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, Burma, Brazil, Russia and India.

It will also seek to invest in infrastructure opportunities in the energy, transportation and telecommunications spaces.