Malaysian Firm and Indian Start up Sign MoU to setup Floating Solar Power Plant in Malaysia

Kerala Startup Vatsaa Energy Private Ltd. will be developing Floating Solar Power Plant for Malaysian firm Mutiara Etnik Sdn Bhd.

An Indian solar energy start-up and a Malaysian firm have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build floating solar power plants in Malaysia. The Wayanad based start-up, the Vatsaa Energy Private Ltd., which has also developed state’s first floating solar power plant at Banasura Sagar reservoir will now setup floating solar power plants Malaysian firm Mutiara Etnik Sdn Bhd.

The MoU was signed at New Delhi along with other investment deals in the presence of visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister.

CEO of Vatsaa Energy Private Ltd., Ajay Thomas told TOI that the proposed floating solar projects to be set up in Malaysia would have a capacity of over 10 MW each.

He further informed the publication that “Getting an opportunity to take the indigenous technology that we developed to foreign countries is a great opportunity. The five-year agreement with the Malaysian firm is to build floating solar power plants in various ASEAN countries. The first project would be set up at the reservoir of a hydroelectric power project in Malaysia.”

Ajay Thomas also mentioned that the firm had been able to bring down the cost for setting up floating solar projects considerably through the technology improvement initiatives carried out during the last one year. The floating solar power plants had higher efficiency compared to ground-mounted units as the cooling effect of water helps in keeping the temperature of the solar panels low, thus boosting output, he said.