UAE state-owned renewable energy developer Masdar has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Citaglobal Berhad to develop 2GW of solar, energy storage and wind projects in Malaysia.
Masdar said that the plans will include rural off-grid projects as it continues to expand its presence in the growing Southeast Asian market. The 2GW will all be deployed in the state of Pahang, Malaysia.
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Citaglobal Berhad is a Malaysian-owned investment holding company. Its president and executive chairman, Tan Sri, said at the MoU signing ceremony: “By collaborating with a leading energy transition player, we will make faster progress towards our climate targets, besides building our long term energy requirements in a responsible and cost efficient manner.”
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Malaysia is a country with “huge untapped potential” in its solar PV market; by 2050 the country could be on track to reach 153GW of installed capacity.
Malaysia is also one of a number of Southeast Asian countries which have come to provide manufacturing bases for the PV industry. JinkoSolar, for example, has a 7GW vertically integrated cell/module production facility in the country, which as of 2022 was powered entirely by renewables.
Malaysia and three other countries in the region have also been the centre of the ongoing antidumping/countervailing duty (ad/cvd) tariff saga in the US.
Tan Sri continued: “The MoU will also facilitate the potential collaboration between Masdar and Citaglobal related to technology solutions and equipment supply outside of Malaysia with a focus on Central Asia.”
Masdar has focused a lot of its operations on Central Asia in the past. It has an extensive portfolio in Uzbekistan in particular, after adding 2GW of projects in May and closing financing on another 900MW of PV in April.
As a state-owned company of the UAE, Masdar framed this MoU in the context of the upcoming COP28 conference to be held in the country.
“As the UAE looks ahead to hosting the UN climate change conference, COP28, later this year, Masdar is proud to be working with partners to advance clean energy solutions around the world,” said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Masdar’s CEO.
The event will be chaired by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which owns Masdar.