Greater KL’s Clean and Renewable Path Forward - Spotlight Greater KL

Greater KL’s Clean and Renewable Path Forward

Greater Kuala Lumpur (Greater KL), have long realised that its growth aspirations must come from sustainable practices, particularly in the essential power generation space. In recent years, the Malaysian Government such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, the Energy Commission, and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, has released policies and frameworks to guide the growth of cleantech and renewable energy (RE) activities across the country.

Figure 1: Summary of RE resource potential in Malaysia as of 2021

Source: MyRER

By the end of 2021, Malaysia had a total installed electricity generation capacity of 33 gigawatts (GW) connected to the grid. Based on existing plans and projections, the power sector is expected to increase its RE capacity to 31% by 2025 and 40% in 2035, reducing the carbon intensity to GDP of the sector by 60% by as early as 2030, compared to the year 2000 baseline. This power transition gives Malaysia an opportunity to capture large parts of the transition value chain, which will require the country to install up to 153 GW of solar photovoltaics (PV), a total of 782 gigawatt-hours of storage and 109 million electric cars by 2050.

The Malaysia RE Roadmap (MyRER), the National Energy Policy 2022-2040 and most recently, the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) Part 1 launched in July 2023, set ambitious goals and economic impacts for Malaysia’s on-going transition towards clean cleantech and RE. Phase one of NETR, detailed 10 flagship catalyst projects and initiatives that could open up energy transition investment opportunities between RM435 billion to RM1.85 trillion by 2050.

The six key energy transition levers are energy efficiency, renewable energy, hydrogen, bioenergy, green mobility, and carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS). Total committed investments for phase one of NETR were RM25 billion, to create 23,000 high-impact, high-quality jobs and reduce 10,000 gigagrams of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. The Ministry of Economy, in collaboration with key industry players such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad, PETRONAS, and various government agencies joined forces to develop NETR. This concerted effort aims to strengthen Malaysia’s position as the ASEAN’s Energy Hub.

KEY NETR PROJECT

Energy Efficiency Acts & Audits

Under the Energy Efficiency (EE) transition level, the NETR has earmarked two flagship initiatives: the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (EECA) and an energy audit for the rail sector. The EE and Conservation Bill, which will regulate energy-intensive users, buildings, and products, is slated to be tabled in 4Q 2023.

Meanwhile, railway operators will perform energy audits supported by the Energy Audit Conditional Grant (EACG 2.0), which aims to establish the current energy consumption baseline, identify potential energy savings in their premises, and lower utility costs.

RE Zone

The NETR also aims to create a large-scale, integrated sustainable development spanning the entire energy supply chain, from generation and energy storage to efficient demand management and consumption. Spearheaded by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, a pilot RE zone will be established, encompassing an industrial park, a zero-carbon city, a residential development, as well as a data centre.

Residential Solar

Sime Darby Property will lead the construction of 4.5 megawatts (MW) solar capacity across 450 homes in City of Elmina and Bandar Bukit Raja.Up 10 kilowatts (KW) solar capacity is expected per house, through rooftop leading with offtake within the townships by high-demand commercial or industrial users.

Future Mobility

The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) will also install 10,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2025 along highways and at selected commercial buildings in collaboration with partners such as TNB, highways concessionaire PLUS Malaysia Berhad, public unit trust Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), local clean energy solutions provider Gentari, and local conglomerate Sunway Group. This aligns with The Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint, which targets to have EV and hybrid vehicles at 15% of total industry volume by 2030.

Local Champions at the Forefront of RE and Clean Tech Space

World’s first Climate Bonds Initiative-certified sukuk

Malaysian pure-play RE producer and developer, reNIKOLA issued up to RM390 million in sukuk (Islamic bonds) that had been certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative (green sukuk) in August 2023. It addresses the challenges of climate change and are consistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This certification demonstrates reNIKOLA’s continues dedication to global best practice in climate finance.

reNIKOLA is looking to grow its RE projects under operation and development to one gigawatt-peak (GWp) in the next three years from its existing 178 megawatt peak (MWp) plants in operation as of 2023. The company is also eyeing other forms of renewable energy such as biogas and green hydrogen.

Gentari Putting Clean Energy into Action

Dedicated to delivering integrated clean energy solutions and contribute towards achieving a net zero future, Gentari has been tasked with advancing the delivery of RE, hydrogen, and green mobility. Wholly owned by PETRONAS, the company has made notable progress with a series of strategic initiatives and collaborations across its core portfolio, since its launch in September 2022. In 2022, Gentari achieved 1.6 GW of global RE in operations and underdevelopment. The company also entered into new partnerships to support the growth of the hydrogen industry and strengthened its green mobility footprint in Asia Pacific. In February 2023, Gentari acquired WIRSOL Energy, a leading RE solutions provider in Australia, marking its maiden entry into Oceania’s RE market.

Seeding Next-Gen of RE Startups

In June 2023, Malaysian clean energy distributor, Solarvest Holdings Berhad, announced the selection of five grant recipients for seed grants as part of the Solarvest Innovation Lab 2023: Irradisol, Flumen, DespaQ, Hydrozon, and Hexacycle. The Solarvest Innovation Lab (SIL) was established to foster, implement, and commercialise innovative business ideas in the fields of green technology (greentech), financial technology (fintech), and RE.

Selected participants receive a grant of RM10,000 to validate their business concepts over six months, allowing them to test and refine their ideas. Following this, candidates with promising and viable business ideas have the opportunity to advance to the Accelerator Funding Round, where they stand a chance to receive a minimum capital of RM100,000 to execute their ideas within 12 months.

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