Renewable energy (RE) has grown exponentially over the last decade.
The renewable energy (RE) capacity in the country’s electricity supply is targeted to reach 70 per cent by 2050 to create new economic opportunities for the nation and attract multinationals, especially RE100 companies, to operate in Malaysia, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli recently said.
Rafizi said the Cabinet on May 3, 2023, agreed for the RE capacity target to be raised to 70 per cent by 2050 under the RE Strategic Development Roadmap after studying the memorandum on the RE Strategic Development Road Map and Trade Policy tabled.
As of last December, the installed capacity for RE in the nation’s power supply stood at 25 per cent, Rafizi said at a recent joint media conference with Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
Moving forward to today, and towards the target of achieving the nation’s energy transition agenda, in parallel with environmental sustainability and net zero carbon emissions, as early as 2050, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the country’s Energy Sector represents 29% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs a quarter of the domestic workforce.
Looking at contributions this big, any change in the energy system will not only impact income and economic development of the country, but people’s lives that depend on affordable and capable energy sources. This is why the energy transition agenda must be implemented responsibly and equitably.
Fadillah, who is also Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) Minister, said, “PETRA is open and also supports all efforts across any industry to explore the use of new technology — such as green hydrogen production, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and nuclear such as the small modular reactor (SMR), battery and other large-scale energy storage technology available.
“The use of new forms of technology will be able to help reduce the country’s dependence on materials and fossil fuels while helping the Government achieve reduction of carbon intensity by 45% per year by 2030 as sealed in the Paris Agreement in 2016,” he said during his speech at the launch of the Malakoff Corporation Bhd’s biomass co-firing project at the Tanjung Bin energy plant here on Sunday.
Realising that the Energy Sector is the largest contributor to Greenhouse Gas production, Petra is committed to further increase the capacity of RE to ensure that 40% of the country’s primary energy mix comes from RE sources by 2035 – a crucial effort to ensure the sustainability of nature.
Fadhilah said currently, the world is witnessing various phenomena threatening the environment due to climate change which is growing in uncertainty and uncontrollable in terms of the destruction it brings to the environment.
In line with such efforts, Fadillah said the government is expected to begin implementing third party access in the national electricity supply industry from September this year.
“Third party access means that other parties can supply energy if they have their own customers, without going through or buying from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).”
“They can supply power generation themselves and supply directly to their customers, but will rely on TNB’s transmission lines. That’s what we call third party access. Therefore, the government will make an official announcement this July about the matter and it will be enforced in September,” he said.
Taking the government’s move a step further, PETRA and the Energy Commission (EC) are developing the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2.0 2026-2035 (NEEAP 2.0) to continue the government’s efforts to achieve the targets of the National Energy Transition Plan.
Fadillah had said the government expects more job opportunities, business potential and investment to be created for the benefit of the people and the country through the implementation of NEEAP 2.0.
