Gerakan picks on Penang's solar-panel plant

Gerakan has asked the Penang government to explain why it has approved a solar power project in Batu Kawan when its operations can be hazardous to workers’ health and the environment.

State Gerakan complaints and services bureau chief Rich Too (left) said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should clear the air as the project “will be located in a residential area”.

It is learnt that the Bosch Group will invest RM2.2 billion to build the plant at a site that has been earmarked as an industrial park.

According to a Bernama report, Too also wants to know if the state government had consulted residents in the vicinity before approving the project.

His questions were targeted at Lim, who has firmly opposed the Lynas rare earths plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, because of potential radioactivity from its operations and waste.

Speaking at an anti-Lynas rally in Penang last month, Lim had pledged not to allow such plants to operate in the state.

Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang weighed in to ask if Lim had considered the environmental impact before approving the plant.

"I agree that solar power is a clean source of energy but the production of solar panels could adversely affect the environment," he added.

‘Concern is baffling’

Rising to Lim’s defence, state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh - who chairs the environment, health and caring society committee - dismissed Gerakan's concern as hypocrisy.

Phee pointed out that the party had been silent about a similar project in Kedah while it was under BN administration. Expected to produce 1.62GW of solar panels by the end of the year, it began operations in Kulim in 2007.

"Why have they not made a sound about it? These people are bankrupt of (ideas). The Gerakan leaders just want to say (the solar-panel) plant is not safe," he told reporters last night.

"Tell us your concerns in detail and we will probe the matter and give you (Gerakan) the answers.”

Phee (left) also said the BN component party should ask for information instead of making "stupid" remarks.

"The Bosch plant will be based on German technology and will not generate any (toxic) waste," he said, adding that discussions were under way on the disposal of other wastes produced.

He claimed that the Penang government would not allow a "rush job" and was studying every detail of the solar panel project before operations start next year.