By MARK RAO / Graphic By TMR

Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) Jimah East Power Sdn Bhd plant development is progressing nicely with 75% of works done to date, putting the project on track to achieve commercial operations as early as the middle of next year.

Valued at RM12 billion, the coalfired power plant in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, comprises two coal-fired units with a combined 2,000MW in generational capacity and is expected to increase TNB’s contribution to Malaysia’s power grid from 51.8% to 53.2%.

The first unit is due to come online in the middle of 2019, while the entire project is scheduled for completion by December of the same year.

TNB — Malaysia’s largest utility provider — said the plant will increase the country’s power generation capacity to 26,897MW from the 24,138MW achieved in December 2017.

“(The plant) uses Ultra Supercritical technology, an efficient coal burning technology with 40% efficiency compared to pulverised coal-firing technology which has a 36% efficiency,” the power utility said in a statement yesterday.

“This two-unit power plant with a capacity of 2,000MW can create business and employment opportunities for the local community.”

TNB owns a 70% stake in the project which it acquired from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) back in July 2015.

1MDB had a stake in the power plant via its unit Edra Global Energy Bhd. The remaining 30% stake is owned by Japanese companies Mitsui & Co Ltd and Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc.

Power generated from the Jimah East Power facility will be sold to TNB under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

The estimated RM12 billion Jimah East Power is expected to be completed in by December 2019. The first concrete pouring for the project was in July 2016.

Meanwhile, TNB, the official host of the internationally Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry (CEPSI) 2018, recently announced three more companies as platinum sponsors of the Sept 17-22, 2018, event.

The three are General Electric Co (GE), a global digital industrial company; Accenture, a leading global professional services company, and Sarawak Energy Bhd, the electricity supplier for Sarawak.

“We welcome GE, Accenture and Sarawak Energy as our Platinum sponsors. Their inclusion raised CEPSI 2018’s total number of platinum sponsors to five. The other two earlier sponsors are ABB and PT CG Power Systems Indonesia,” said TNB chief corporate officer and AESIEAP (Association of the Electricity Supply Industry of East Asia and the Western Pacific) 2017/2018 secretary general Datuk Roslan Ab Rahman in a statement recently.

More than 1,500 delegates comprising industry leaders, senior executives, government officials and professional experts from all over the world are targeted to participate in event, to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.