FGV to invest in RE projects
19 May 2020
The company’s ‘waste-to-wealth’ initiative is an important element to its RE plans.
FGV Holdings Bhd is planning to focus on renewable-energy (RE) projects in an effort to boost its recovery strategy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its group CEO Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan said its “waste-to-wealth” initiative is an important element to its plans as the group has access to abundant resources derived from its plantation and mill activities.
“These include producing biogas fuels (gas, solid and liquid) to generate power. This initiative can be enhanced further as part of the group’s recovery strategy post-Covid-19.
“We are reviewing the initiatives under the segment to come up with a solid plan that could be executed immediately,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He added that the immediate project that could be carried out is the power generation business through biogas capture at its palm oil mills.
Biogas acts as fuel for electricity generation via biogas engines to supply electricity to the national electricity grid through a feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism governed by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA Malaysia).
It also uses biogas for rural electrification in Sabah by generating and supplying electricity to power-up the homes of settlers in Felda Sahabat, Felda Cenderawasih and Felda Umas.
FGV’s Serting Hilir mill in Negri Sembilan was the first FiT project in Malaysia to achieve commercial operation date in 2006 followed by Tenggaroh, Maokil and Nitar mills in Johor.
The group’s Triang and Keratong’s nine mills in Pahang are the latest to supply to the national grid this year.
Haris Fadzilah said FGV’s associate MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s plant in Tanjung Leman in Johor could run using shredded empty fruit bunches (EFB) supplied from the group’s mills in Johor.
He added that this would enable FGV to save RM60 million in electricity use a year.
Additionally, FGV is expecting to export palm kernel shells (PKS) to Japan for biofuel with shipments expected to start within this year.
PKS is widely used for biomass power plants throughout Japan for electricity power generation in-line with the government initiatives in promoting RE.
FGV also has a joint-venture plan to build an EFB pulp and paper plant, potentially in Kuantan, Pahang, which is expected to be completed in 2022/2023 that would utilise between half a million and one million tonnes of EFB annually.
Following the success of the first bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) plant at Sungai Tengi Palm Oil Mill, in Selangor, FGV has plans to set up bio-CNG/bio-liquefied natural gas plants at potentially 35 of its palm oil mills in venture with external investments.
This is in addition to its FiT projects, palm fibre oil extraction plants, biogas and renewable energy utility projects in Sabah, which also involve external parties.
The RE division which is under FGV Palm Industries Sdn Bhd consists of by-products, RE and zero-investment projects relating to biomass produced from palm oil mills.
FGV’s shares closed 1.5 sen higher at 93.5 sen yesterday, valuing the company at RM3.4 billion.
Source: The Malaysian Reserve
