Citaglobal executive chairman and president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria (front right) exchanging documents with IBC President Director Toto Nugroho (front left) at the MoU signing ceremony. Looking on are Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim (centre), and (from left) Minister Foreign Affairs Malaysia Minister Datuk Seri Diraja Zambry Abd Kadir, International Trade and Industry Malaysia Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Minister Retno Marsudi and Public Works & Public Housing of Indonesia Minister Basuki Hadimuljono
KUALA LUMPUR: Citaglobal Bhd has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indonesia Battery Corp (IBC) for a proposed battery cell manufacturing plant and battery energy storage system (BESS).
The signing ceremony in Jakarta, witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was executed between Citaglobal executive chairman and president Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Norza Zakaria and IBC president director Toto Nugroho.
IBC is established by four Indonesian state-owned enterprises (PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, Mining Industry of Indonesia, Perusahaan Listrik Negara and PT Pertamina) and headquartered in Jakarta.
It has a vision to develop battery electric vehicles (EVs) and the battery industry ecosystem in Indonesia.
A joint statement by Citaglobal and IBC said both companies have strategic plans to expand into the renewable energy (RE) space, and noted that the global market for EVs is growing at a compounded annualised growth rate of 21.7%.
The battery is one of the main cost components for EVs, making up some 35%.
“Scaling up battery storage is critical for the development of RE whether in Malaysia or Indonesia.
“The Energy Commission of Malaysia has made known its intentions of adopting up to 500MW of battery storage technology.
“With Malaysia’s strategic location for high solar power potential, our government has been very proactive in choosing areas that are suited for solar power adoption, especially for BESS,” said Mohamad Norza.
He added that a collaboration with IBC would allow both parties to leverage on each other’s expertise and quicken the process of increasing low-carbon power sources.
“We welcome Citaglobal as our partner to increase our competitiveness to become a key player in the battery and EV ecosystem.
“In IBC, our mission is to support national EV growth so that we can become the base of production in Asean,” said Toto.
