TNB inks MoUs with Thai unit for RE opportunities

“These collaborations are strategic steps to realise key milestones in our responsible energy transition plan, and our overall sustainability pathway commitment,” says Baharin.

PETALING JAYA: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has proposed to collaborate with several major energy players in Thailand to capitalise on rising demand for greener power in the Asean region.

“These collaborations are strategic steps to realise key milestones in our responsible energy transition plan, and our overall sustainability pathway commitment,” TNB’s president and chief executive officer Datuk Baharin Din said in a filing with Bursa Malaysian yesterday.

He said these collaborations will accelerate the carbon neutrality ambition of the respective partner companies and strengthen the growth momentum for renewable energy (RE) in the Asean region.

“With the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (Irena) projection of more than 60% of installed generation in 2050 for Asean countries coming from RE, this translates to at least 1,500 gigawatts of generation capacity, in which TNB hopes to participate in,” he added.

Through these partnerships, TNB said it aspires to strengthen Asean power interconnections and enable the various partners to leverage each other’s resources and develop regional infrastructure for RE.

For this purpose, TNB signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to study the feasibility of a proposed enhancement of the interconnection electricity capacity between Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand.

Two of TNB’s subsidiaries: TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd (TRe) and TNB Power Generation Sdn Bhd (Genco) signed the MoUs respectively with Planet Utility Co Ltd (PU) and B.Grimm Power Public Co Ltd (B.Grimm), the group said.

The TRe-PU MoU is to explore potential RE and power generation technologies opportunities in Thailand while the Genco-B.Grimm MoU is to explore any opportunities for collaborations, participation and development of RE power projects in Asean, it said.

The MoU with PU is done with the aim of evaluating strategic options for potential RE investment in floating solar, solar rooftop and ground-mounted solar projects in Thailand.

“The partnership is intended to capitalise on both parties’ strengths in RE project investment and development as well as explore other opportunities within the region,” it said.

Meanwhile, pertaining to the MoU with B.Grimm, TNB Genco said it would like to collaborate, co-develop and invest in mutually selected sustainable green-field and brown-field power projects of B.Grimm Power, within the Asean region.

Embarking on these projects will support TNB Genco’s growth and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets which in line with TNB’s aspirations to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.

The signing ceremony for these MoUs was held in tandem with Prime Minster Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s first official visit to Bangkok, Thailand, who witnessed the exchange of the three MoU documents.