Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and SunEdison today jointly launched Malaysia’s first airport solar power system at the KL International Airport with a total investment of RM200 million.

“The solar power system is expected to save the airport about RM2.1 million annually based on its current energy costs,” said MAHB chief operating officer Abdul Hamid Mohd Ali told reporters at the launch of the system in Sepang.

He said the 19-megawatt (MW) direct current (DC) system was the largest in Malaysia where it interconnected and combined ground-mount (5MW), parking canopy (10MW) and roof-top (4MW) systems.

“We don’t incur any cost for this project because we provide the under-utilised asset, while SunEdison is required to pay lease rental and royalty to us. In return, we buy the electricity at a much cheaper rate,” said Abdul Hamid.

He said MAHB was looking to expand this system at its other airports especially at the short take-off and landing ports (STOL ports) located in remote areas.

“Solar energy is one of the areas that we are seriously looking into. We may discuss with SunEdison further on the system for the other airports especially in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

Solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, SunEdison is the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) approval holder, granted by SEDA Malaysia.

The company is allowed to sell power generated from renewable energy sources to Tenaga Nasional Bhd for a fixed period of time.

“There is an excellent Feed-in-Tariff programme in Malaysia and we are looking forward to help additional airports in Malaysia and around the world,” said SunEdison president for Asia, Middle East, South Africa and Australia, Pashupathy Gopalan.

“In working with MAHB, we are able to help them gain an economic benefit from an under-utilised asset that they already have,” he said.

- Bernama