Reimagining TNB Present throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has established itself as Malaysia’s largest electricity company. Closing of 2017 at its recent AGM, TNB’s CEO, Datuk Seri Ir Azman Mohd., shared the company’s vision and strategy for the future, and how that that would translate into value not just for the company and its shareholders, but for the people of Malaysia.
Over the past three years, TNB’s generous returns to its shareholders is a testament to the value it has created as a company. While delivering high shareholder value is undoubtedly an important milestone, having a solid strategy to face an ever-changing landscape and an uncertain future is key to ensuring TNB’s continued success.
Framed by macroeconomic trends such as climate change, rapid urbanisation, disruptive technology, and the rise of emerging economies in Asia, TNB developed an eight-year strategic plan under the umbrella of ‘Reimagining TNB ’, which is anchored on three key pillars designed to achieve continued growth. These pillars are: Future Generation Sources, Grid of the Future and Winning the Customer.
1) Future Generation Sources Why are we going for Renewables? The future is renewables.
Underscored by TNB’s aspiration to be the ASEAN leader in renewables, TNB is also expanding its footprint overseas in other ventures and alternative energy investments.
“As emerging countries become less industrialised, they require less electricity and move towards the services sector. We are aware of this fact, which is why we need to find different paths of growths. And that is why in addition to maintaining our position domestically in Malaysia, we are also expanding overseas .”
“Why are we going for Renewables? The future is renewables. We believe that even though fossil fuels are still required currently due to economic reasons, with the change in technology, more and more we will see that the future of electricity generation will come from renewable sources.”
To this end, TNB aims to build a portfolio of energy assets in diverse markets from Europe to the Middle East and around Asia . The following are some of the major global achievements by TNB:
In Turkey, TNB has already made its presence known through a 30 per cent equity purchase in GAMA Enerji for US$243 million .
In the United Kingdom, TNB has completed the acquisition of a 50% interest in Vortex Solar Investments S.a.r.l. for the acquisition of an operational 365 MW solar PV portfolio via Vortex Solar UK Limited.
Whereas in Saudi Arabia, TNB currently operates and maintains electricity generation stations and water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia through the Saudi-Malaysia Operation and Maintenance Service Company Limited , of which TNB has a 30% interest in.
TNB also completed acquisition of a 30% stake in Indian power company, GMR Energy Limited (“GEL”) for US$300 million pursuant to the definitive agreements executed on May 9, 2016.
All these efforts are part and parcel of TNB’s plan to become one of the world’s top ten utilities by market capitalisation by 2025.
2) Grid of the Future Grid of the Future essentially means that future investments made by TNB will be focused on introducing automation and intelligent solutions to TNB’s grid to reduce grid costs. This will also encourage new technologies such as energy storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, cybersecurity upgrades and grid enhancements that enable Bi-directional energy flow means that surplus of electricity generated by renewable sources, such as solar PVs, can be fed back to TNB’s grid– ultimately allowing for efficient use of excess power.
Using the AMI facilities, customers will have access to real time data about their power consumption
TNB plans to digitise and automate its grids to improve performance and reliability of its operations, ultimately benefiting customers. One of the avenues TNB has taken to achieve this goal is through the development of the Smart Grid.
The smart grid utilises digital technology connecting suppliers, distributors and consumers, giving more control over the energy bill and preventing blackouts at peak hours.
The introduction of the Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or Smart Meter , has proven to be one of the methods whereby value is delivered to the customer. Using the AMI facilities, customers will have access to real time data about their power consumption. Knowledge of how much power is being consumed in a household empowers the customer to make choices on where to save electricity, enabling them to make informed choices about energy usage.
3) Winning the Customer Recognising that customers are the keystone to success of a business is fundamental when considering the future of a company. TNB understands that it is crucial to adopt a customer-first model. An appreciation of the customers needs beyond electricity consumption enables TNB to provide more complex products and services which surpass the mere sale of electricity.
In catering to the winning customer, TNB views potential energy-related services beyond the meter evolving through advances in technology. The growing preference for clean power generation, smart home technology and improvement in energy efficiency is something that TNB has picked up on and is a product and service that TNB is prepared to offer. In fact, early 2017 TNB had begun offering interested customers packages with technical and financial support enabling them to pursue self-generation through solar photovoltaic (PV) installation on rooftops.
TNB also intends to continue providing their Home Energy Report (HER), increasing the number of customers benefiting from the programme to include domestic customers, who will be able to access the HER via the myTNB web portal. This can be viewed as an initiative to increase customers’ awareness on energy consumption and efficiency, which tallies with the Government’s goal of making Malaysia a sustainable and low carbon nation .
TNB’s success lies in their ability to develop strong and meaningful relationships with all their stakeholders. By regularly engaging with their stakeholders, this allows them to understand their needs and interests. Coupled with the fact that TNB is constantly looking at expanding globally by making wise investment choices, it is clear that TNB is on its way to becoming one of the top 10 global utility companies by 2025.