Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) leader Huan Cheng Guan has again demanded that the Penang government addresses safety concerns on JinkoSolar Technology's US$100 million (RM360 million) plant in Prai.

Huan said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has not addressed any of the technical issues he raised and instead only chose to brush off his questions.

He said JinkoSolar Technology's chequered history in Zhejiang, China, has been widely documented and thus there are legitimate concerns on safety, should it operate in Malaysia.

JinkoSolar Technology is set to build the world's largest photovoltaic panel plant in the country in Prai. This plant been given approval by the federal government.

However, the company has been penalised in China for dumping toxic wastes into the waterways.

Harmful wastes

Huan explained that the production of photovoltaic panels results in the production of silicon tetrachloride, a toxic substance, as waste.

"Sulphur hexafluoride, for cleaning the reactor used in silicon production, is a very potent greenhouse gas which reacts with silicon to create other compounds.

"Some kinds of photovoltaic panels contain cadmium, which is an extremely toxic metal. In the form of cadmium telluride, it is a stable non-metallic substance but insoluble in water," said Huan.

Apart from posing a health risk to those in the vicinity, Huan said there could also be risks of water contamination, which would affect the fishing community in Pulau Aman, Bukit Tambun and other areas.

Yesterday, Lim dismissed the claims by Huan as a waste of time .

New York-listed JinkoSolar, Lim said, had paid the price for its failures in China and that they must now move on.