Northport looks to the Sun

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Northport Malaysia has announced plans to invest in solar energy in a bid to reduce their environmental footprint and decrease high energy expenditure.

The proposed project would involve the installation of a number of solar panels around the site, at a cost of about RM15 million.

CEO, Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid said that the move would help the company save around RM250, 000 per year based on the Sustainable Energy Development Authority’s A (SEDA) current feed-in-tariff (FiT) calculations.

Speaking to the Malaysian Reserve, Abi Sofian said: “we are now paying about RM1.3 million per month for our electricity consumption.”

“We are planning to establish a 1MW solar panel capacity at an estimated cost of RM15 million, but have been seeing the cost going down in the last few years.”

He believes that a movement towards solar energy is the logical next step from current terminal practices, such as the use of hybrid equipment and energy generated from radioisotope thermo-electric generators.

By using solar energy, Northport also hopes to stay in line with the current Green Port Initiative spearheaded by the Malaysian Transport Ministry.

“We want to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and the carbon footprint at the port. We want to take advantage of our rich solar energy source to operate our equipment using cleaner, more efficient energy which, in the long run, will also mean lower operating costs,” he said.

The port is already undertaking preliminary studies to identify the scope of works required, which includes location and how the panels can successfully be integrated with the existing distribution system and Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) power grid in order to correctly facilitate the FiT mechanism.

Abi Sofian said “We expect to get the required licence under the new FiT quota to be released by SEDA, in the coming months. We expect the project to completed by the first quarter of next year.”

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