Article originally published on The Star Online in August 6th 2015.
SEREMBAN: The Negri Sembilan
government will embark on an ambitious project to open “floating solar farms”
at dams in a bid to generate green power.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri
Mohamad Hasan said a pilot project would be carried out at the Sungai Terip dam
near here where solar panels would be “floated” on a specially-designed
platform covering one fifth of the dam’s surface.
“Gone are the days where dams
will only be used to store and supply treated water to consumers.
“We will now optimise their use
to produce renewable energy,” he told reporters here.
He said the state government
hoped to get consent from the Energy Commission before it could proceed with
the project, believed to be the first of its kind in the region.
If approved, the venture – to
be jointly carried out by the state and a private company – would be able to
generate between 7.5MW and 10MW of power.
“The problem is that Negri
Sembilan has used up its quota to generate solar renewable energy. But since
some states have not used the quota allotted to them, we hope to be considered
for more,” he said.
Although there are eight dams
in the state, not all are suitable for “floating farms”.
This is because the dams need
to be located close to the national power grid to enable power to be transmitted
onto it and supplied to consumers.
Mohamad said at present, Negri
Sembilan produced some 32MW of solar renewable energy. The electricity
generated can provide power to an estimated 20,000 homes daily.
This renewable energy is
obtained from thousands of solar panels put up at four closed landfills in the
state.
Mohamad said the state
government hoped to be given the green light to proceed with the “floating
farm” solar project as the demand for power would increase following the rapid
development taking place in the state.
Citing an example, he said
several new townships and industrial parks were expected to be opened in the
next few years as part of the Malaysian Vision Valley project.
“The project will be carried
out over a 30-year period encompassing a 108,000ha area,” he said.
“This will see a massive
increase in demand for electricity. So, it is best that we try to generate
whatever renewable energy we can so that we will not have to rely solely on one
source.”
Our Floating Solar System: http://www.ciel-et-terre.net/hydrelio-floating-solar-system/
