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A groundbreaking ceremony attended by the Sultan of Pahang and the state’s chief minister marked the official launch of construction for the 200-megawatt floating solar photovoltaic plant at Chereh Dam, according to a joint announcement from the project partners. The event on October 29 brought together senior officials from Masdar, Citaglobal Bhd and TIZA Global Sdn Bhd along with local dignitaries at the reservoir site in Pahang state. Chereh Solar Sdn Bhd, the dedicated project vehicle, will oversee development of what will rank among Southeast Asia’s largest installations of its kind with commercial operations targeted for 2028.
The plant will cover approximately 950 acres of reservoir surface and generate sufficient clean electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 100,000 homes, Masdar’s project documentation stated. Financial close occurred on October 27 with approximately RM580 million raised from three international lenders, the partners reported in their joint statement. Citaglobal noted that the financing structure aligns project funding with future revenues while drawing international capital into Malaysia’s renewable energy sector.
A 21-year power purchase agreement was signed in December 2025 with Tenaga Nasional Berhad under Malaysia’s Large Scale Solar Cycle 5+ programme, in which the consortium secured the lowest tariff bid for any floating solar project, according to details released by Masdar. The award forms the first delivered initiative under a 10-gigawatt renewable energy roadmap Masdar agreed with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority in 2023, the company said. Masdar holds the lead role in the consortium that combines its floating solar expertise with Citaglobal’s infrastructure capabilities and TIZA Global’s local development experience.
Construction is expected to create around 1,500 jobs during the development and build phases, the partners indicated in their October 29 statement. Masdar’s overview of the project highlights that floating photovoltaic systems deliver efficiency gains through water cooling while reducing reservoir evaporation and avoiding land-use conflicts with agriculture or urban expansion. The technology choice suits water-rich nations such as Malaysia where reservoir surfaces can host utility-scale generation without competing for scarce terrestrial space.
This installation represents Masdar’s inaugural project in Malaysia and surpasses the company’s 145-megawatt Cirata floating solar plant in Indonesia that previously held the Southeast Asia record, according to Masdar’s project portfolio. The Abu Dhabi-based developer maintains a global clean energy pipeline of more than 65 gigawatts across solar, wind and other technologies, its corporate reporting shows. Earlier collaboration with Malaysian partners on feasibility studies for additional floating solar at the Murum reservoir in Sarawak continues in parallel, Masdar confirmed.
Malaysia has set renewable energy targets of 31 percent by 2025 and 40 percent by 2035, benchmarks the project directly supports through its contribution to the national grid, according to government policy frameworks referenced in the partners’ announcement. The Chereh development follows Masdar’s regional floating solar track record and builds on the 2023 strategic roadmap that envisions up to 10 gigawatts of combined solar, wind and storage capacity across the country. International lenders’ participation underscores growing investor confidence in Malaysia’s clean energy transition, the joint statement added.
