This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 22, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malakoff Corp Bhd’s 1,000MW ultra-supercritical, coal-fired power plant (T4 Plant), located in Tanjung Bin, Mukim Serkat, Johor, achieved its commercial operation date (COD) yesterday.

With that, the total net effective generation capacity of the Malakoff group in Malaysia has increased from 5,346MW to 6,346 MW, said Malakoff in a bourse filing.

The T4 Plant was developed by Tanjung Bin Energy Sdn Bhd (TBE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malakoff. Tanjung Bin has a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), effective from the COD of the T4 Plant.

“It expected that TBE will contribute and enhance the profitability of Malakoff for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 and thereafter,” added Malakoff.

In a separate statement, Malakoff said TBE is Malaysia’s first independent power producer (IPP) project awarded by the Energy Commission via a competitive bidding process.

“Alongside the PPA signed with TNB, a coal supply and transportation agreement (CSTA) between TBE and TNB Fuel Services Sdn Bhd was also sealed. TBE has made its generating capacity available under the 25-year PPA, whilst the CSTA will ensure the steady and quality supply of coal to be used by the power plant,” said Malakoff acting chief executive Habib Husin.

GE Steam Power Systems undertook the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant, which commenced construction in March 2012 and was completed on schedule in four years, together with its consortium partners Mudajaya Corp Bhd and Shin Eversendai Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd, in a contract worth globally over €1 billion.

T4 is located on a 65ha plot adjacent to Malakoff’s existing 2,100MW coal-fired Tanjung Bin Energy Power Plant. Both power plants share common infrastructure, such as coal handling facilities, power evacuation, seawater intake and other access facilities.

Malakoff, with core focuses on power generation, water desalination, and operation and maintenance services, is Malaysia’s largest IPP. Its shares closed unchanged at RM1.60 yesterday, valuing it at RM8 billion.