I recently revamped my clean technology article looking into the local green and clean tech landscape. This article was published in the magazine of the AHK Malaysia. Hope you enjoy reading it. I did not have the time for fancy charts.
Clean technology has become a buzzword for an industry worth USD 360 billion
globally. Tapping on this potential, the state of Selangor embarked several
years ago on a journey to strengthen the local profile in regard to clean and
green. As for many projects, it has proven to be a long-term challenge, in
which new investment projects and technology from abroad are playing a key
role, while utilizing Selangor’s own resources in a sustainable way has to be
the benchmark.
As for many countries, the rise of solar energy had also a major impact
on Malaysia, which made the sector a key target for investment promotion.
Selangor has been able to attract a significant investment valued RM 5 billion
from the German manufacturer Q.Cells, which today is integrated into the Korean
Hanwha Group. Together they form the third largest global solar manufacturer
and represent a significant part of the clean technology drive into Selangor.
In the meantime, especially solar – related industries, including poly-silicon
production, have started to add-on a reliable supply chain to the initial
investment activity from Q.Cells and the like. Nevertheless, solar has become
more than a manufacturing business. The Malaysian government offers a renewable
energy feed-in tariff and respective annual quotas (for more information: www.seda.gov.my).
As a consequence, real estate developers among others have started to include
solar energy in their housing development projects, also providing energy to
shopping malls (e.g. Setia City Mall) as well as office buildings. In the Klang
Valley with a booming construction industry, growing the fastest by 22.2 % (RM
4.99bn) in the last quarter of 2012, planned as well as operational renewable
energy plants show the highest density compared to other states (compare
www.seda.gov.my).
Construction and real estate remain a strong topic for clean
technologies, since not only different applications of renewable energy are highly
related, but also sectors such as green building with a host of new clean
technologies. Panasonic brought together experts on clean technologies and
building to announce the concept of “Building an Econation” in 2012. In line
with this development, the company established facilities under its new
Panahome Building Technologies unit in Selangor to present its innovative
technologies in regard to building materials. German corporations, having a
strong technology-leadership in such sectors, could benefit from this trend and
the ongoing boom in construction and real-estate development.
Moving on to a new stage of clean technology applications, other
services sectors have adopted the new trend swiftly. One exemplary development
refers to business and IT process outsourcing. Malaysia is known to be one of
the top 3 outsourcing destinations globally (A.T. Kearney Global Services
Location Index 2011/12) and has identified data centers to be a new growth
industry of the future. In this context, the current craze is all about lowering
the carbon-footprint of clients. Especially large multinationals are analyzing
different strategies to achieve a lower carbon-profile and appreciate the clean
technology initiative of data center providers in Malaysia. Besides,
evaluations show that a clean tech data center is able to achieve cost-savings
of up to 30%. Out of this perspective, it is not surprising that in 2011/12 new
investments of approx. RM 400 million in green and clean data centers were
announced and implemented. With more than 80 % of all data centers and related
companies located in the Klang Valley, which includes more than 60 % directly
in Selangor, the industry is a serious contributor of clean technology
solutions within the state.
Selangor’s economy contributes more than 22 % of the Malaysian gross
domestic product and is with an urbanization of 91.4 % also the most developed
state in the country. For German technology leaders, the state of Selangor
offers many opportunities beyond earlier mentioned trends. Some of these
sectors are biotechnology, water treatment and waste management, technologies
reducing carbon-dioxide emissions as well as improving energy-efficiency.
