SEREMBAN: SWM Environment Sdn Bhd (SWM), the solid waste management and public cleansing concessionaire for the Southern Region (Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan), is exploring projects utilising green technology for implementation in the waste management industry.

As the largest operator of landfills in Malaysia, SWM has initiated plans to apply solar photovoltaic technology in all the landfills it operates, to generate renewable energy.

SWM head of technical and project unit W M Ng said to start with, the company will embark on a solar photovoltaic pilot plant in its flagship sanitary landfill facility, the Seelong Environmental Centre in Johor Bahru District, to produce two megawatt (MW) of renewable energy.

He added that upon successful implementation, SWM will expand the solar photovoltaic project to cover all the 20 disposal facilities under its management, in the Southern Region.

"This project will complement the existing Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project at the Seelong Environmental Centre, which has been operational since 2008 and registered by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The landfill gas is utilised for conversion to carbon credits, with a potential for renewable energy generation of up to 10MW," he said in a statement to Bernama here on Monday, Mar 14.

He also said in addition to the existing renewable energy projects which SWM has been pioneering since 2000, several large scale renewable energy plants using the latest state of the art and proven technology, are already in the final stages of negotiation.

According to Ng, the total combined potential renewable energy generation from the integrated facilities by SWM is approximately 120 MW, and will be implemented in line with the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) mechanism under the Renewable Energy Act, whereby excess power from sources of renewable energy can be sold to the utility companies.

"This will contribute significantly to the government’s objective to meet its renewable energy obligations and commitments via the Green Initiatives in line with the Economic Transformation Program (ETP)," he said. — Bernama

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