KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): Construction and engineering solutions player KPower Bhd has been selected as one of the successful bidders under the feed-in tariff (FiT) e-bidding exercise conducted by Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) for the development of small hydro power plants in Malaysia.

In a bourse filing on Wednesday, Mikrogrid Lestari Sdn Bhd (MLSB), a 55%-owned subsidiary of KPower, via KPower RE Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KPower, was notified that it was a successful bidder under SEDA’s e-bidding mechanism for the development of small hydro power plants with installed capacities of 13.1 megawatt (MW) and 27.3MW.

Under the e-bidding exercise, MLSB shall develop small hydro power plants with a total capacity of 40.4MW in Gua Musang, Kelantan with a basic FiT rate of 22.49 sen per kilowatt-hour

“The feed-in approval certificate shall be issued within 14 days upon fulfilling the conditions as set out by SEDA,” it said.

KPower added that the company would make further announcements upon the receipt of the approval certificate.

In a separate statement, KPower executive chairman Mustakim Mat Nun explained that the competitive bidding for the FiT quota application for biogas, biomass and small hydropower resources was opened by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, through its statutory body, SEDA, in June last year.

“This is our second open bid win after our solar win in 2021 which will enable us to diversify our income portfolio via solar and hydro.

“With this win and recent proposal, our assets ownership under the renewable energy spectrum will generate in excess of 120MW, thus, strengthening our concession-based recurring income for the long term,” he said.

KPower (formerly Kumpulan Powernet Bhd) finished 2.17% or one sen higher at 47 sen at the close of the morning session, which values the company at RM255.11 million.