Development of Renewable Energy in Malaysia-Strategic Initiatives for Carbon Reduction in the Power Generation Sector

Malaysia introduced renewable energy as the 5th fuel strategy in the energy-mix under the National Energy Policy in 2001. A target was set at 500 MW grid-connected power generations by 2005 from renewable energy sources. The small renewable energy power program (SREP) was launched at the same time with fiscal incentives to support this initiative. Malaysia has huge potential renewable energy resources in the form of biomass, solar and hydro. However, the implementation of SREP was not up to expectation due to several barriers and challenges faced by the authorities and developers, and the target was revised in 2006 to 350 MW by 2010. At the COP15 in Copenhagen, Malaysia pledged a voluntary reduction of up to 40% in terms of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared to 2005 levels. With this commitment the Renewable Energy Act (RE Act 2010) was enacted in 2011 with provision of Feed-in Tariff, providing more attractive incentives to spur the implementation of grid-connected power generation from renewable energy resources. With the new RE Act2010, the target is revised to 985 MW by 2015, 2,080 MW (2020) and to 21,000 MW in 2050. This paper describes the development of renewable energy policy framework, strategies and initiatives for renewable energy implementation in Malaysia, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions as pledged at the COP15. This paper also provides examples of renewable power generation currently implemented and the on-going research and development activities to enhance the exploitation of renewable energy resources in Malaysia.