Malaysia Approves 2,628 Small-Scale Renewable Projects

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Since the implementation of the feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism by Malaysia's sustainable energy development authority, Seda Malaysia, in December 2011, renewable energy applications have been approved for 2,628 projects, with a total installed capacity of 484 megawatts (MW).

Malaysia appears to have adapted a "bottom up" model for the development of the renewable sector, featuring a wide range of small-scale, localized applications throughout the country, rather than targeting one or two world-scale projects.

Under the approvals, 655 projects with a total installed capacity of 118 MW have begun operations.

Seda reported that solar photovoltaic (PV) had the highest percentage of approved applications at 39.7%, or 192 MW of installed capacity.

Biomass projects were at 31.5% with 152.5 MW, and small hydro had 23.8% at 115.1 MW. Biogas came in at 5.01% with 24.2 MW.

Supporting the small-scale, grassroots approach, Seda has approved 2,279 applications for individuals with a total capacity of 24.4 MW. In this category, 592 applications with an installed capacity of 8.98 MW have commenced operations.

Seda will not release a solar PV quota for this year due to the need to ensure all approved applications can achieve commercial operations by the end of December.

For related information, see July 30, 2013, article - Malaysia Starts $72 Billion Project Plan to Become 'Smart Grid Nation'.

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