Petronas to deploy solar energy to increase energy efficiency

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has embarked on an initiative to deploy solar energy at the group's assets across Malaysia to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

This initiative is part of Petronas' efforts towards progressing its sustainability agenda and achieving its aspirations of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050 (NZCE 2050) through its new energy business.

"The deployment of solar energy at our assets forms part of our journey towards NZCE 2050.

"While we have an active role in powering businesses with clean energy, we are cognisant that the transformative effort should also start at our home ground," said the head of new energy Dr Jay Mariyappan in a statement today.

He said that in this regard, the national oil and gas company would be using its very own M+ by Petronas solar solution for the installations, where it integrates high-quality systems and products provided for customers across the world.

As part of this initiative, four Petronas assets will be installed with ground-mounted and rooftop solar energy systems by this year.

Once completed, the solar energy systems will have a combined capacity of over 66 megawatt peak (MWp) installed, helping the company to achieve reductions of 58,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per annum.

This effort includes the completed 8.33MWp solar rooftop installation at the Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB)'s yard in Pasir Gudang, Johor, namely MMHE West -- the largest of such installation in a single compound in Malaysia -- as well as a 7.3MWp solar rooftop installation at Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Seri Iskandar, Perak, which is on-track for completion by end of 2021.

It also includes the installation of a 49.0MWp ground-mounted and rooftop solar at the Pengerang Integrated Complex in Johor -- targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2022, as well as a 1.4MWp solar rooftop installation at Institut Teknologi Petroleum Petronas (INSTEP) in Terengganu.

"The installation at INSTEP will also see an additional 5kWP solar training system installed to provide students with hands-on experiential learning, in addition to the renewable energy modules and products the institute offers," said Jay.

For scale, the combined installed capacity at the four assets can generate enough energy to power more than 20,000 households.

He added that moving forward, Petronas will continue to assess the energy consumption of its assets and the group's portfolio to identify opportunities for electrifying processes and maximising renewable energy use as part of a phased approach towards achieving NZCE 2050.

-- BERNAMA