KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): National utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) (KL:TENAGA) said its 1,010-megawatt (MW) coal-fired Manjung 4 power plant in Perak resumed operations last month.

TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan said the plant, which had been offline since December 2023 due to fractures in its steam turbine, returned to full commercial operations in January.

“Following repairs, the group conducted tests on the plant towards the end of last year prior to the plant going back online,” he told reporters after TNB’s results briefing on Friday.

Details on costs of repairs were not disclosed.

Manjung 4, previously dubbed the country’s most efficient coal-fired plant, cost RM6.5 billion and achieved commercial operation date (COD) on April 14, 2015.

The plant’s prolonged outage, spanning over a year, was estimated to cost the group RM400 million in capacity revenue loss for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), according to TNB’s guidance to analysts.

At the time, analysts noted that the plant was projected to resume operations by end-2024 at the earliest, with the possibility of it being dragged to early 2025.

As Malaysia continues on its energy transition pursuit, Jalaluddin said TNB is keeping an eye on investment opportunities overseas for technology adoption, besides returns.

The group, which began investing overseas in 2016, has since grown its portfolio beyond Malaysian borders to eight countries with a cumulative electricity generating capacity of 6,729.9MW, according to TNB’s latest annual report.

In 2016, TNB acquired a 30% stake in India-based power company GMR Energy Ltd, which holds a generation portfolio comprising coal, gas, and renewables — hydro and solar. TNB divested its entire 30% stake in GMR Energy back in November 2023.

Megat Jalaludin said solar technology observed from TNB’s investments in solar assets overseas enabled the group to employ the best solutions for large-scale solar in Malaysia when the market opened up in 2017. 

After the divestment in India, TNB’s renewable energy (RE) portfolio comprises solar, hydro and wind power generation assets in Türkiye, the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Megat Jalaludin said TNB is planning to deploy the same technology adoption process to implement battery storage into Malaysia’s grid. Battery storage is a fundamental support infrastructure needed to offset solar energy generation’s intermittent nature.

“Today, we are looking at the UK. We have also started investing in Australia, which has a good RE generation base.

“Our investments are always going to be prudent to ensure returns. That is fundamental. At the same time, we want the technology exposure and, in turn, adoption in the country,” he added.

Shares in TNB ended four sen or 0.29% higher at RM13.60 on Friday, valuing the group at RM79.06 billion. The stock has fallen 7.9% year-to-date.

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