By Ooi Tee Ching Business Times Monday, March 1, 2010
In Malaysia, natural gas remains one of the most reliable source for electricity since 1980s, especially to power industries with offshore power plants. Unfortunately, it was reported that after 2010, there will be a need to import natural gas for domestic use. Of course, the government is also considering alternative energy, besides petroleum, such as hydro which requires a huge area of river and biodiversity to be jeopardize. The more preferred alternative would be coal-fired power plants. However, these alternatives cause damage to the environment although it cannot be denied that in terms of economic, it has generated thousands of jobs for the people.
Therefore the government is indeed on the look-out for a better alternative. As known to Malaysians, many palm oil mills had been capturing methane gas from the palm oil mill effluent and converting them to steam to power the 
operation of the plant. This reduces air pollution and operation costs in the mill. Now there is an idea to amplify this concept of methane capturing for as purified methane and electricity. But research is still on-going to ascertain whether the methane can be captured at a significant volume for sale to the national power grid. Also, can methane be purified and sold as compressed natural gas to industrial like oleochemical producers or as transport fuel for taxis and express busses.
Below are some considerations of using renewable natural gas:
i. Green energy produced from agriculture waste
ii. Natural gas pipelines on a per kilometer basis cost just half as much to build as high tension power cables.
iii. Transmission loss via a gas network is only a quarter to that of electricity via the power grid
iv. Gas Malaysia buying price of renewable natural gas
v. Gas Malaysia selling price of renewable natural gas – potential for green tariffs
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAbdulsalam here,based on several reports by Mr Ooi,Malaysia can achieve it because,"It has potential, Malaysia can consider this option but it must be economically viable. If palm oil millers can generate the kind of volume we need at affordable rates, it would be good for natural gas users like us," TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Che Khalib Mohd Noh said in an interview when met in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Currently, the machines that turn agriculture waste like palm oil mill effluent and animal manure into renewable natural gas are first generation products. They now take about a month to generate a reasonable amount of gas.
Scientists and engineers are working on a second generation equipment that could do this 10 times faster, or in just three days.
Reference
Malaysia to explore renewable gas potential
By Ooi Tee ChingPublished: 2010/03/02