KUALA LUMPUR: Energy infrastructure group Wah Seong Corp Bhd plans to venture into a biomass power plant project in Cambodia by supplying electric energy to Baitang (Kampuchea) Plc for 20 years.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Wah Seong said its indirect subsidiary PMTI Energy (Cambodia) Co Ltd had signed a power purchase agreement with Baitang (Kampuchea) last Friday, to sell up to 3.5 megawatts (mw) per hour of any and all electric energy generated available for sale to the latter.

Baitang will purchase the energy from PMTI Energy for a period of 20 years, from the first day following the date PMTI Energy successfully completes the initial capacity test.

The contract may be renewed and extended perpetually by mutual agreement between the two parties, the statement read.

To recap, PMTI Energy had earlier been granted the approval by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to invest in the construction of a 10mw power per hour rice husk power plant located in Battambang province, Cambodia, in order to generate and supply electricity to the rice milling industry.

“PMTI Energy would be venturing into biomass power plant project by exploiting Cambodia’s abundant supply of rice husk waste as a reliable source of renewable energy for electricity power generation,” said Wah Seong.

The venture is in line with the group’s strategy of developing a portfolio of renewable energy and power plants in the region and is expected to contribute positively to the earnings of Wah Seong over the power supply period of 20 years, it added.

Wah Seong shares closed one sen higher to RM1.55 yesterday, bringing a market capitalisation of RM1.2 billion.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 9, 2014.