Manjung power plant: A safe way to generate energy from coal

CAIRO - 9 August 2018: When it comes to coal-generated energy, there is an eternal clash between two teams; the first opposes coal usage for the damage it causes to the environment, while the second advocates the natural element as a cheap energy generator.

Energy giant General Electric (GE) managed to find a safe way to generate power from coal, and has decided to face all the challenges related to coal energy production by coal plants in a number of countries such as India, Pakistan, Malaysia and other southeast countries of Asia.

Egypt Today was invited by the American company to Malaysia’s Manjung coal-fired power plant, where we heard a detailed lecture about the latest developments in clean energy production.


Egypt Today's reporter at Malaysia’s Manjung coal-fired power plant - Press photo

“Global energy demand is expected to rise up by 40 percent in the upcoming 20 years,” officials told Egypt Today.

Dr. Sacha Parneix, Commercial General Manager of GE Power, explained the cost of a coal-generated energy during his lecture, saying that it depends on the location of the project, its closeness to the sea, quality of the coal used in the process, and its source.

He pointed out that Egypt is a pivotal country in the Middle East for General Electric; since it has lots of power plants, announcing a potential cooperation between GE and the Egyptian government in the future.



Manjung 4 Island

In 2011, Malaysia started using modern technology in generating energy, launching Manjung 4, the largest clean-coal power plant in Southeast Asia, with a production capacity of 1,000 megawatts to meet the energy demand in the limited-resources Asian country, according to GE’s official website.

Manjung 4, owned by the semi-governmental company Tenaga in cooperation with the technical partner General Electric, was built to achieve Malaysia’s strategy to diversify energy sources. It produces enough clean electricity for nearly two million houses and facilities across the country, and controls harmful carbon dioxide emissions, the GE website mentioned.

Malaysia’s Manjung coal-fired power plant - File photo/Official website

“The world, especially Malaysia, requires accessible, reliable and sustainable energy, and GE can provide solutions in this sector,” the Managing Director of TNB Manjung 4 in Malaysia Datuk Shamsul stated.

“The plant has achieved extremely high availability, particularly during the second year of operation with a 97-percent availability, exceeding its target rate, while allowing TNB to reliably deliver full base load to the grid,” Datuk Shamsul added.

Malaysia’s Manjung coal-fired power plant - File photo/Official website