EC withdraws approval for Malakoff’s proposed solar power plant

Green Building Interview with Hamidah of Head Admin & facilities, Energy Commission at Putrajaya

KUALA LUMPUR: The Energy Commission (EC) has revoked its earlier approval for Malakoff Corp Bhd to undertake a 50MWac large-scale solar photovoltaic plant following a change in the proposed location.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Friday, the independent power producer said the commission, in a letter dated March 16, withdrew the acceptance of the letter of offer for the company to carry out the project.

“EC had in its letter rejected the appeal by the company to change the original land site of the project from Tanjung Malim to another land site,” Malakoff explained.

“The appeal was made due to the fact that the land owner of the original land site in Tanjung Malim is no longer able to commit to lease the land for the duration of the project due to its ongoing corporate exercise.”

EC had also in its letter stated that it had rejected the relocation of the land site as this would delay the finalisation of the solar power purchase agreement as well as the project’s scheduled commercial operations as prescribed by EC. Under the original plan, the commercial operation is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2018, for a 21-year term.

Malakoff had initially also proposed to undertake the project in a 51:49 joint-venture with DRB-Hicom Bhd’s indirect subsidiary DRB-Hicom Environmental Services Sdn Bhd (DHES), but the latter subsequently withdrew from the consortium.

However, EC had no objection to the withdrawal and for Malakoff to take over the full scope of the project, subject to the company fulfilling certain conditions.

In the Feb 16 announcement on DHES’s withdrawal, Malakoff did not mention that the site of the project - on 200 acres in Tanjung Malim - would be affected. 

Malakoff said in its announcement on Friday that the withdrawal would not have any material impact on the earnings and net assets of the group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017.

The counter closed unchanged at RM1.18 on Friday with 9.76 million shares changing hands.