Minister: Govt hopes to boost renewable energy growth with net metering programme

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The government is looking into energy efficiency and renewable energy (RE) to reduce electricity bills and decarbonising the government’s administration, said Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment, and Climate Change (MESTECC), Yeo Bee Yin.

In a statement from the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) today, she said by introducing new policies like the net energy metering (NEM) programme, the government hopes it can catalyse and scale up the RE growth in the country.

The NEM programme is a solar photovoltaic (PV) initiative by MESTECC to encourage Malaysia’s renewable energy uptake.

Under the programme, energy produced from the installed solar PV system will be consumed first, and any excess exported to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) on a “one-on-one” offset basis.

The scheme is applicable to all domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors as long as they are TNB customers.

The programme has seen positive growth since its introduction in October last year, with 38 megawatts (MW) taken up out of the 500 MW allocated for the programme, Yeo said.

“Malaysia has huge potential in harnessing solar power via rooftop PV systems.

“There are 3.2 million landed properties, 450,000 shophouses, 90,000 terrace factories, 21,000 stand-alone factories and 1,000 shopping complexes in Malaysia,” she added.

To date, SEDA has approved 17 solar investor applications since it implemented the solar PV investor directory in January this year.

The new NEM has also succeeded in spawning new solar PV behind-the-meter (BTM) business opportunities that includes solar leasing, purchase of solar electricity via power purchase agreement (PPA) or a hybrid of both.

Additionally, Yeo said a new roadmap, known as the Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap (RETR) 2035 is currently being developed to explore the possible strategies and action plan to realise the government’s target of 20 per cent RE in the national power mix by 2025.

The roadmap will also explore the cost benefits and effectiveness of establishing a mandatory REC market.

The strategies include a peer-to-peer energy trading where the solar prosumers can sell their excess electricity to consumers, enabling those who have rooftop constraints to enjoy the NEM scheme.

It also includes providing the option where consumers can purchase 100 per cent RE electricity from power utility companies. — Bernama