Solar Energy from Terengganu!!!

A news that change sand to energy.

Terengganu will become the world's largest solar product manufacturer with the setting up of a state-of-the-art production facility in Teluk Kalong here in April.
This is following the move by Denmark Solar Industry (DSI), a world leader in the fabrication and manufacture of solar panels and solar renewable energy savings products, to relocate its plant here.
DSI has entered into a joint venture with SOLARin group to set up the facility with an initial investment of RM200mil.
The amount would be increased to RM1bil when the facility was fully operational in 2008, said SOLARin Holdings Sdn Bhd president and group executive chairman Datuk Naser Ismail.
Terengganu will become the first in Malaysia and Asia to have such a facility and we plan to turn Teluk Kalong into the first solar valley in the world.
''This would put the state on the world map,'' he said after a presentation on the construction of the plant to State Industrial Development and Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Mohamed Awang Tera in Kijal yesterday.
Naser said the facility would employ 500 technicians when it commenced production and another 1,500 technicians by 2008.
''We will have to rush on the construction of the facility since we have targeted to export four million solar cells to Denmark by July,'' he said.
Datuk Naser Ismail (right) and Pr Vejrum Pape after the briefing.
Naser said the solar panels would be sold to Europe, the US and Australia.
DSI chief executive officer Per Vejrum Pape said the availability of high-grade silica oxide was the prime reason for the facility to be located in Kemaman.
He said a study by DSI found that the white sand in Kuala Abang in Dungun had the highest content of silica oxide - the main raw material to produce solar cells.
''It is 99.5% pure and such a high content cannot be found in China, Vietnam or Thailand,'' Pape said.
He added that the high quality of silica oxide would lower the production cost of solar cells, a major component of the solar module.
He said the sand would be smelted under a complex process into crystals to form solar cells, which is laminated to make solar panels.
He said the facility would open up a wide range of new businesses in Malaysia since the lower quality silica oxide could be turned into fertilisers, glass and porcelain.
''If the purification is better, it can even be sold to semiconductor companies, NASA and even the pharmaceutical industry,'' he said.
Source: The Star