More impetus needed to drive 20 pct renewal energy target

KUALA LUMPUR: The 20 per cent target of renewable energy ( RE) efficiency from the current two per cent is seen as an aggressive mark as Malaysia is still lacking in terms of impetus to drive the RE adoption growth.

Energy Council of Malaysia chairman Datuk Abdul Razak Abdul Majid said the target was a big jump and required support, initiative, as well as programmes spearheaded by the government to ensure that the target was met.

He said even though there were some incentives under the feed-in- tariff mechanism, as well in installing solar panels, it was rather limited in encouraging and promoting RE and he believed that the government did not intend to accelerate the RE adoption using the mechanism.

“Based on this, (the target) may not be achieved in 2025, maybe 2026 or later, depending on how much the government i s wi l l ing to faci l itate and the publ ic want to participate.

“If it is purely driven by commercial ( consideration), it won’t be so fast, but if the idea is about public participating in green agenda, then it could move faster,” he told a press conference after a keynote session themed ‘ Green Development and Transformation in Energy Supply Indus t ry’, here yesterday.

The session was held in conjunct ion with the Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry ( Cepsi) 2018 hosted by Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

Abdul Razak, who was former chief executive officer of special- purpose agency MyPower, said the higher content of RE would also take some time, depending on the solar panel and battery prices.

“In the meantime, the base load will still be there in the medium term and probably reaches the capacity of the power system if the country is on track to achieve the 20 per cent RE efficiency.

“Every RE you put in, you have to put some backup ( base load) in case the output from solar is low,” he said, adding that many considerations should be taken into account, including land to be allocated for solar activity. — Bernama