Biomass Plant to Power Factories Planned

TOP Glove Corp Bhd may build a biomass plant to power its factories in

Klang, which will allow the company to slash energy costs significantly.

Its factory in Ipoh is now powered by biomass, helping it to save

RM500,000 every month.

“It saves even more now as oil price escalates,” executive chairman

Datuk Dr Lim Wee-Chai said. About a tenth of Top Glove’s production costs

is spent on energy.

The firm currently uses different energy sources for its 11 factories

located in three countries. Besides the Ipoh factory, others in Malaysia

are powered by natural gas, while the one in China uses coal.

It is in the midst of converting the energy source for two factories in

Thailand from liquefied petroleum gas to biomass, and is expecting huge

savings from the switch when it completes this in a few months.

While it is still not clear how much it needs to invest for a biomass

plant in Klang, executive director K.M. Lee said Top Glove had spent

about RM5 million to set up the plant in Ipoh.

“Nothing has been decided, but we are seriously considering such

option,” Lee said.