TNB, IOI Form JV for 500-MW Solar, 1,000-MWh Battery in Malaysia

• TNB Renewables signed a joint venture with IOI's Luminous Aspect and SME consortium CSP 500MW on Nov. 3, taking a 70% stake.
• Project company Bahau Energy Ventures will develop 500 MWac of solar and a 250-MW / 1,000-MWh battery under Malaysia's CRESS scheme.
• The battery matches the CRESS storage option of 50% of plant capacity for four hours; TNB gave no cost or start date.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad's renewables arm will develop a 500-MWac solar plant with a 250-MW / 1,000-MWh battery. Its partners are IOI Corporation and a group of smaller Malaysian firms, TNB said in a Bursa Malaysia filing on Nov. 3.

TNB Renewables Sdn. Bhd. signed the joint venture shareholders' agreement that day and holds 70%. IOI's wholly owned Luminous Aspect Sdn. Bhd. has 25%. The last 5% sits with CSP 500MW Sdn. Bhd., a consortium of small and medium-sized enterprises. Their project company, Bahau Energy Ventures Sdn. Bhd., will build and run the solar and battery storage facilities and sell the power to corporate customers.

The project falls under the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS). It lets large power users in Peninsular Malaysia buy renewable electricity straight from a developer over the grid. Under the Energy Commission's CRESS guidelines, a plant without firm output must add storage of at least half its capacity for four hours. Otherwise it pays a higher grid charge. This battery sits exactly at that line.

The project in numbers

• 500 MWac of solar photovoltaic capacity.
• 250 MW / 1,000 MWh of battery storage, or 4 hours at full power (list.solar calculation).
• 50% battery power relative to solar capacity, the CRESS minimum for the storage option (list.solar calculation).
• 70% / 25% / 5% stakes, or 350 MWac pro rata for TNB Renewables (list.solar calculation).
• About 25% of the 1,975 MWac approved in the LSS PETRA 5+ tender, the largest Large Scale Solar round, per energy ministry PETRA (list.solar calculation).
• 70% renewables in the capacity mix by 2050 is Malaysia's goal, with 40% set for 2035.

CRESS differs from the Large Scale Solar tenders, where TNB, the national utility, buys the output. Masdar's 200-MWac Chereh floating plant works that way, under a 21-year power purchase agreement. TNB filed the deal as a related-party transaction. The main announcement does not name the related party and leaves the full terms to an attachment.

TNB gave no project cost, construction schedule or commercial operation date. CRESS approval requires registration under the NEDA framework, and the scheme involves at least five separate contracts, including supply deals with each corporate buyer. The developer also needs a generation licence.