Tenaga Nasional Berhad marked its major entry into renewable energy from wind farms when its wholly-owned subsidiary, Vantage RE Ltd acquired a 49% stake in an offshore wind farm company, Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Limited (BODL) from EDF Renewables (EDFR), a subsidiary of the French utility company, Électricité de France (EDF).
The acquisition marks TNB’s maiden entry into the international offshore wind market as BODL currently owns offshore wind assets off the coast of Blyth, Northumberland, England. The assets include five turbines with a total installed capacity of 41.5MW and further development rights for a floating offshore wind project of up to 58.4MW (“Blyth 2”) located off the Northumberland coast.
According to TNB, the five 8.3MW turbines of Blyth 1 are installed with gravity-based foundations, which use a concrete load to keep the turbines securely in place without penetrating the seabed. The wind farm has been in operation since 2017 under the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC) subsidy regime which is expected to provide stable revenues. Blyth 2 is an innovative floating offshore wind project currently in the early stage of development. The acquisition is one of the planned strategic acquisitions for the utility giant to accelerate its journey in delivering on its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) vision.
In 2021, TNB announced its Sustainability Pathway, a blueprint with an aspiration to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The Pathway is underpinned by a commitment to reduce 35% of TNB’s emissions intensity as well as 50% of coal generation capacity by 2035.
Vantage RE was launched on 1 July 2021 to own, operate and manage TNB’s portfolio of renewable energy (RE) assets in the UK and Europe. To date, it has achieved a 530.4MW RE portfolio including offshore wind, onshore wind and solar farms in the UK. As of December 2021, TNB has a total RE capacity of 3,487.2MW including 2,771.4MW in Malaysia and 715.8MW across UK, Turkey and India, and is targeting to grow its RE capacity to 8,300MW by 2025.
Locally, TNB’s RE mix includes hydroelectric and large scale solar (LSS) plants. The group also offers “beyond kWh” solutions such as rooftop solar solutions, energy audits, and a digital marketplace for RE certificates. Overall it is also looking at the adoption of new technologies such as energy storage systems to enhance the grid’s flexibility and address the intermittency issue
in RE.
