01/04/2013 (The Star) - Wah Seong Corp Bhd is expanding its renewable energy division, with plans to build a network of biomass generated power plants in Asean, Africa and Latin America.

Group chief executive Chan Cheu Leong told StarBiz the group aimed to build a whole network of plants globally, “possibly 20 to 30 of them” in the next five to ten years. He was confident the group would develop into a significant player in the agro-based renewable energy industry worldwide.

The first two plants to be built overseas would be in Cambodia and Congo. Although plans had not been finalised, the intention was to build a 3MW-5MW capacity plant in Congo and another one with a capacity no bigger than 10MW in Cambodia, Chan said.

“Usually, the cost to build a plant is about US$1.2mil-US$1.5mil per MW,” he said of the capex. That would indicate that Wah Seong was ready to spend up to US$22.5mil (RM69.5mil) for the two plants.

Chan said the group would consider bigger plants in future.

“This is suitable for developing countries where energy is not sufficient. Many parties are interested to partner us,” he said, adding that they were seeking rice mill and palm oil mill operators in the respective countries for potential strategic partnerships.

Chan said the next country the group was eyeing was Indonesia. While the group targets to plant up to 80,000ha of oil palms in Congo over the next 15 years, it intends to increase its acreage in Indonesia and Latin American as well.

“Indonesia is a huge market and it has land (for planting),” he said, adding that the group would begin planting in Congo in the second quarter of this year.

The group has also planned to build a waterfront facility in Banting for its manufacturing and equipment servicing for plantation and biomass sectors.

Chan said the other area the group intended to focus on was its pipe-coating and anti-corrosion business under the oil and gas (O&G) division.

He said it was growing well, proven by the group's breakthrough win to enter the European market in February.

Wah Seong won the Statoil pipe-coating contract worth RM611.3mil for the Polarled development project in Norway. Chan said operations in the Gulf of Mexico were also commencing.

“We want to be global players in these two industries,” he said, adding that the group would also play a bigger role in the domestic O&G sector.