Norwegian solar developer Scatec Solar has completed grid connection and started commercial operations at the 65MW Gurun solar power plant in Malaysia.
Image: Scatec Solar’s Malaysian solar plant. Photo: Courtesy of Scatec Solar.
Scatec Solar said that this is the first of three 65MW solar projects under construction in the country.
The Gurun solar power plant is located in the north-west of Peninsular Malaysia and is expected to generate about 94,000MWh of clean electricity annually, which is sufficient to power more than 31,000 households.
The solar plant also helps in avoiding more than 70,000 tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere every year.
Scatec Solar CEO Raymond Carlsen said: “Completing our first solar plant in South East Asia together with our partners marks another important milestone for us.
“We are now realising one of the largest solar energy portfolios in the region with a total of 197MW and we continue to see several interesting opportunities in the South East Asian market.”
The company entered into large scale solar energy market in Malaysia in 2016, after collaborating with a local ITRAMAS-led consortium that had signed three 21 year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the country’s electricity utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).
Under the partnership, three solar plants totaling 197MW are to be constructed, with a total cost of about MYR1.23bn ($293m).
Last month, the company began construction of the 117MW Guanizuil IIA solar project in Argentina. This project is being constructed in collaboration with Norwegian company Equinor and it is located in the Province of San Juan in the northwest of Argentina.
In November, the partners signed a 20 year PPA to supply the 117MW of electricity generated from the project to Cammesa, the Argentinian wholesale power market administrator and it is in line with the project announcement made last June.
For this solar plant, an estimated cost of $103m has been allocated and it will be owned equally by Scatec Solar and Equinor. It is expected to generate 308,000MWh of clean electricity annually, which will be sufficient to power 88,000 Argentinean households.