SEDA’s reply deepens mystery over solar power deal, says Pakatan

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Companies linked to Petronas chairman Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan’s daughter had failed to meet the requirements for lucrative feed-in tariff solar power contracts awarded by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), Pakatan Rakyat MPs said today.

DAP MP Tony Pua asked whether the 12 companies, owned by Suzi Suliana Mohd Sidek, her husband Todd Morath and two others, had fulfilled a technical condition required by law before applying to produce the solar power, where each company is allocated a quota of between 1MW (Megawatt) and 5MW.

“Before you submit an application to get feed-in approval, you must have conducted a power system study (PSS),” he told reporters, referring to the Renewable Energy Act 2011.

Based on SEDA’s guidelines on its website, Pua (picture)said “a PSS conducted for a company applying to supply 1MW to 10MW will take 30 days, costing RM40,000.”

But he pointed out that eight of the companies were only set up 21 days before the application deadline, saying: “Very clearly the law says PSS needs to be conducted 30 days in advance.”

Pua and PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar had recently highlighted that Suzi Suliana and others controlled 12 out of 32 firms that had collectively won the “lion’s share” or 32.4 per cent of the nation’s solar energy quota.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP also challenged SEDA to show that the companies have sufficient funds to carry out the contracts.

He said the 12 companies had altogether secured 45.9MW of the quota which would require investments of RM367 million, basing his calculations on the estimation that each MW will need an investment of at least RM8 million.

Based on the SEDA application form, Pua said the companies would need to have “at least 20 per cent of the total capital cost” in their bank accounts before application, which in this case would be 20 per cent of RM367 million.

“We challenge SEDA to state that Suzi’s companies have fulfilled the RM73 million cash balance requirements for the application by the 12 successful companies,” he said.

Pua also blasted the renewable energy authority’s clarification that successful applicants “must have a minimum RM200,000 in paid-up capital or two per cent of the project cost”.

“Why is it that the latest information from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) showed that at least nine of the 12 successful companies had a paid-up capital of only RM100 more than six months after they were awarded?” asked Pua.

Pua’s comment comes after SEDA published an advertorial answering the allegations in major newspapers last Sunday.

“Considering his advertorial did not really answer our questions... we ask Tan Sri Fong Chan Onn and... Datuk Peter Chin to meet us... explain in a transparent manner,” said Nurul Izzah, who was also present at the press conference today.

Fong heads SEDA, which comes under Chin’s Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water.

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