KUCHING: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) has formalised its collaboration with Energy Storage Rights Pty Ltd (ESR) through an exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
According to a statement, the said MoU is part of the university’s ongoing initiatives to achieve the goal of sustainable development.
“This MoU was signed to realise the optimistic commitment of both parties for cooperation that produces mutual benefits in the future.
“This collaboration is also to promote more innovation and technology that will have an impact on Sarawak, Malaysia and the scientific community as a whole.
“The first common project is an European Horizon grant application for POME Demethylation with the objective to reduce towards zero the methane emissions from POME, in partnership with a major palm oil plantation with mills in Sarawak, near Bintulu Port,” it said on Monday (Jan 9).
Explaining further on the collaboration, it stated that the MoU and NDA with ESR, part of AlgorithmIntelligence SRL Group based in Romania, is about collaborative research in the field of efficient generation of electricity for renewable and sustainable energy, machine learning, and other related fields.
“These represent proactive business and academic support for national policy utilising renewable and sustainable energy sources.
“As Malaysia’s largest renewable energy provider, Sarawak can play a key role in accelerating the region’s energy transition by sharing its resources with its neighbours.
“The low cost of energy from renewable energy such as solar benefits Sarawak’s domestic, industrial, and export customers by providing them with affordable, dependable, and sustainable electricity – in fact, the most competitive in the region,” it said.
Adding on, it stated that with regional offices in Kuala Lumpur and Canberra, ESR has a portfolio of pipeline and completed solar projects totaling nearly 1 GigaWatt-peak (GWp) in Europe and the South East Asia and Pacific region.
“Solar power will be one of the primary engines for achieving the climate goal of shifting from carbon dioxide-producing to carbon-free electricity generation.
“This is also inline with Sarawak’s focus on using its power exports to make the state into the centre of renewable energy for South-east Asia,” it added.
The MoU was signed by Director of Energy Storage Rights, Dan Barbulescu, and the Vice Chancellor of Unimas, Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, in the presence of Nineta Barbulescu Ambasador of Romania to Malaysia and the Director of the Institute of Sustainable and Renewable Energy (ISuRE) of Unimas, Prof. Dr. Shanti Faridah Salleh.
