KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Siemens AG, which has stamped its markbuilding large-scale power generation projects using petroleum, coal andhydro, wants to share its oil palm biomass expertise to produce energy inMalaysia, says a company official.

Alfons Frank, Siemens AG director of sales in power plants, saidMalaysia's endeavour to use oil palm biomass as an energy source hasencouraged Siemens to look for opportunities in the country.

Malaysia produces a lot of oil palm biomass annually when the palms arepruned or chopped.

Saying that Siemens wanted to be involved either as a supplier or partner,Frank said oil palm biomass was ideal for generating energy while reducingcarbon monoxide emissions and protecting the environment at the same time.

"Energy is produced through the incineration of oil palm residuals such asfronds and husks in a steam boiler, then high-pressure steam is producedand expanded in a steam engine which generates mechanical energy. Thisenergy is then converted into electrical power at the generator," heexplained at a interview.

Frank was in Kuala Lumpur recently for a two-day seminar on oil palmbiomass under the auspices of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and twoGermans organisations, Frauhofer and the Hannover-Hildesheim Chamber ofCommerce in Lower Saxonia state.

Siemens, he said, had participated in some 20 biomass power schemes in thelast five years as a designer and turnkey constructor. It has also builtEurope's largest biomass-fired power plant at Cuijk in the Netherlandswhich generates 25 megawatt (MW) of power to 65,000 households.

Frank said this proved that biomass could be used a reliable fuel forcommercial power generation.

He said Siemens had identified biomass as having a bright future for thecompany because of its expertise in biomass applications.

Asked whether indepedent power producers (IPPs) or other companies inMalaysia had approached Siemens on building oil palm biomass powergenerators, he said there were people who were keen to know how to goabout it.

"Our role, at the moment, is to support them and checking whether theirideas or concepts in using residues from the oil palm industry can work inpower generation," he added.

One Malaysian company, he said, was exploring with the Siemens regionaloffice here to see whether the biomass project was feasible but nocontract had been signed as yet.

Asked whether Malaysia could be successful in using five percent of itspower generation from renewable energy resources, particularly biomass by2005, Frank said the country should start building at least two years fromnow in order to meet its target by then.

He said there were some activities amongst IPPs in using biomass schemesand there was still time for optimisation or to do conduct differentfeasibilities studies.

Frank said two pressure-setting elements encouraging the use of oil palmbiomass were government legislation on waste dumping and the KyotoProtocol on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

"If there is enough pressure to push this (biomass power generation)forward, biomass schemes could be a reality (in Malaysia) within the next12 to 24 months," he added.

Two main areas before biomass power plants can be established are theapproval from the government and environmental impact assessment studies.

-- BERNAMA