RENEWABLE ENERGY
According to the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia, the country has set a target to achieve higher penetration up to 20% of Renewable Energy (RE) in the Malaysian energy capacity mix by 2025 (2020). Until now, Malaysia has approximately 2% of its energy coming from RE compared to the total generation mix which mostly is provided by solar Photovoltaic (PV) (2019). To achieve the target, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) has identified some initiatives to implement enhanced Net Energy Metering (NEM) and Solar Leasing, Large Scale Solar Programme 3 (LSS3) and Non-Solar RE projects. Malaysia is still far behind compared to the top 10RE generating countries in the world where even least economically advance countries namely Honduras and Nicaragua are in the top ten list. Both countries are generating RE as a share of its power sources at the high teens. However, on the research development on renewable energy front, Malaysia has shown significant growth in terms of research publication in this area as analysed by SCOPUS. A case in point, there are about 100 relevant documents were published recently focusing on Malaysia as compared to Europe at 400 documents. This reflect the high growth potential for the RE research and development in Malaysia and, is still in progress. The current energy mix for Malaysia power generation is mainly provided by natural gas and coal. The third biggest contributor is hydro power, where it generates about 13% of total Malaysian power generation in this country as of 2016. This is mainly provided by its unique geographical advantage, as Malaysia has 189 rivers with the total length approximately of 57,300 km. Coal, natural gas, and large hydro, collectively known as conventional power generation, have been the main sources of power generation in Malaysia. Coal on the hand is the cheapest source of all three. Most of the coal plants are used as base load plants. Malaysia owns large coal power plants of up to 1000 MW each per plant. These plants also in terms of operations are partly used for spinning reserves. In 2016, coal plants contributed 42.5% from the total generation mix. Malaysian government sets a target to keep the cost of RE to be below than the price of coal generation to allow for the growth of the former especially from solar. Lastly, according to the Energy Commission of Malaysia, 43.5%of power generation
comes from natural gas. This is best explained through our natural endowment. Malaysia is blessed with oil and gas. In fact, oil and gas is the backbone of our economy. Renewable energy in Malaysia has gone a long way since 1980 when Malaysia embarked on the Four Fuel Diversification Strategy which aimed to balance the utilisation of oil, gas, coal, and hydro in the energy mix. Malaysia’s commitment towards clean environment is evidenced by signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 the Fifth Fuel Policy in 1999. Malaysia is committed to COP 15 to reduce its carbon emissions by 40%, and Malaysia has pledged to reduce its Green House Gas (GHG) emissions contribution to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 45% by the year 2030. Currently solar is the primary RE in Malaysia but there are other sources of renewable energy sources that can be and are being developed like wind, biomass, geothermal and tidal waves. Solar prominence is understandable given our country monthly solar irradiation estimated at 400-600 MJ/M2 coupled with humid and sunny weather throughout the year, which seemingly causes Large Scale Solar (LSS) and rooftop solar an excellent choice for solar deployment in Malaysia. The irradiation is higher during North-East monsoon when the wind direction coming from central Asia to South China Sea through Malaysia and finally to Australia between November and March. Estimated potential for solar generation can reach up to 6500 MW. Perlis is the most suitable state given its location with the highest solar irradiance when it comes to harvesting solar energy in Malaysia. About 87% of total awarded capacity in the first and second phases of LSS bidding to be built there (2017). The Net Energy Metering (NEM) was introduced to attract more customers to install rooftop solar since 2019. This mechanism offers the same tariff for selling and buying electricity for NEM participants. Smart meters are one of the enablers of NEM implementation. The incumbent utility is embarking on a pilot deployment of smart meters in the state of Melaka and Putrajaya. The deployment of smart meters covers 340,000 smart meters in Melaka and 1.2 million in Klang Valley. A RM 18.8 billion has been allocated under the second Regulatory Period for investment in Transmission and Distribution assets.
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Malaysian Technology Strategic Outlook 2019/2020 Intergration of High Technology
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