Citaglobal Genetec BESS recently launched Malaysia’s first locally developed and produced Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Genetec EPIC plant in Bangi, Selangor. The launch showcased the fully operational 1megawatt BESS prototype (MYBESS) that was successfully developed and piloted in December 2022, and currently supports the Genetec EPIC plant’s energy needs.
Being highly feasible, MYBESS is fully scalable and portable to meet the diverse needs of various industries. Also, the skill set required to operate the system is rather low. Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the system is completely built in Malaysia, adding that MYBESS offers a window to a larger energy ecosystem of opportunity and solution.
Genetec Managing Director Chin Kem Weng said they are looking to incorporate MYBESS into the local region before moving over to the global arena.
The Citaglobal Genetec BESS is the special purpose vehicle formed by Citaglobal Bhd (Citaglobal) and Genetec Technology Bhd (Genetec), technology leader in providing full turnkey smart factory automation manufacturing lines.
Their exclusive collaboration agreement was formalised on 6 October 2022 to develop battery energy storage management systems to store and manage excess power during the generation of renewable energy.
The development of MYBESS is meant to solve two of the biggest ecosystem challenges, which are large scale and capacity energy storage as well as portability. This could also be a key solution to rural electrification and connectivity.
According to Zafrul, global renewable energy capacity rose by 10% in 2022, while investment in the green energy transition amounted to a record $1.1 trillion worldwide. All these reflect the world’s firm shift towards a future increasingly powered by renewable energy.
For MITI, one priority under the New Investment Policy involves strengthening Malaysia’s ESG adoption, in support of Malaysia’s Net Zero target by 2050, and a key component of this is to rethink how Malaysia generate, distribute, store, supply and consume energy.
To this end, the development of Malaysia’s homegrown MYBESS, by Citaglobal Genetec BESS, is not only a step in the right direction in support of Malaysia’s future renewable energy security, but also an important opportunity to begin positioning Malaysia in high-technology industries and higher in the global value chain.
“The time to act is now, and through the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 which will be launched later in the year, MiTi is taking bold steps to enhance our industrial ecosystem, underscored by key considerations such as ESG compliance and future industrial energy sufficiency,” he said.
Citaglobal Genetec BESS Chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the combined strengths, capabilities, deep and long-standing industry experience of both Citaglobal and Genetec in the infrastructure construction and engineering, as well as intelligent turnkey manufacturing automation especially for the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries, has enabled them to go-to-market with a very compelling end-to-end BESS solution.
This solution caters to different industry verticals — from transport, manufacturing, energy supply and distribution, telecommunications — to mention some, especially in grid integration to manage intermittent renewable energy resources which remains a challenge today.
“In addition to supporting national and international infrastructure energy needs, our readiness positions us competitively to enable faster-time-to-market deployment,” said Norza.
Chin said, “We are very excited to have achieved this milestone with Citaglobal. Following the successful pilot, we have been scaling our readiness to support large orders and rising demand as countries and companies across different industries fast-track their renewable energy plans.”
He added that the organisation saw opportunities with their neighbouring ASEAN countries and they also expect early market adopters to continue to scale and improve infrastructure, paving the way for greater opportunities to supply this locally developed, end-to-end BESS solution.
The Citaglobal Genetec BESS end-to-end solution comprises the BESS structure and management and power conversion subsystem, to the communications interface, that is highly customised to support different renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro.
