KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28): FGV Holdings Bhd has commenced operations of its largest renewable energy biogas power plant to date, with an installed capacity of 2.4 megawatts (MW), which could generate up to RM5 million in annual revenue at peak transmission.

FGV secured a quota of 2.0MW of export capacity to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB)’s national grid from the Triang biogas power plant — to distribute electricity to 15,000 homes in Felda Triang, Felda Sebertak, Felda Purun, Felda Bukit Kepayang and Felda Tementi, all located within a 30km radius from the biogas power plant.

It said the plant can produce enough biogas to generate power to be transmitted to the TNB electrical substation connected to the national grid and, at peak transmission, could produce up to 10 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, translating into a revenue of RM5 million per year for the palm oil mill (POM).

Electricity generated by the plant would act as an alternative form of green energy for TNB, said FGV group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan, and that reduces the risk of outages to ensure a better and steadier stream of electricity.

“In line with the government’s renewable energy agenda, the power plant offers an efficient form of renewable energy through biogas from its palm oil mill effluent (POME), which reduces the need to burn more coal or natural gas that could potentially harm the environment,” he said in a statement.

FGV said the installation of the plant enhances the POM’s water treatment capacity, thus greatly improving the quality of its discharge to the nearby river, adding that the plant is equipped with a POME polishing plant to further increase water discharge quality.

Besides the Triang biogas power plant, the group owns four other existing Feed-in Tariff (FiT) biogas plants that export electricity to the national grid located in Mersing with a capacity of 1.6MW, as well as in Maokil, Segamat and Tenggaroh with a capacity of 1.2MW.

FGV also contributes to rural electrification of townships without access to TNB's national grid, such as Felda Umas and Felda Baiduri Ayu in Sabah. This is done by injecting electrical power to the local grid owned by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC) that traditionally uses diesel generators to enable the local population to enjoy clean renewable electricity at lower cost of energy generation.

The group is currently the only oil palm plantation company in the world that owns 28 biogas power plants and the first to develop a palm-based commercial-scale bio-compressed natural gas (Bio-CNG) plant in Malaysia.

It said it is fully committed to ensuring consistent efforts and initiatives are carried out to improve its carbon emission footprint, utilisation of green resources, compliance with regulations and contributions to society and the environment.

As at the time of writing today, FGV was one sen or 0.92% lower at RM1.08, giving the stock a market capitalisation of RM3.94 billion.