Malaysia Adopts Sophisticated System of Feed-in Tariffs

3,000 MW New Renewables by 2020

1,250 MW of Solar Photovoltaics by 2020

May 15, 2011 - Paul Gipe - wind-works.org

Joining several other Asian countries, Malaysia's parliament has approved a sophisticated system of feed-in tariffs to develop its renewable energy resources.

On April 5th, Malaysia adopted a system of Advanced Renewable Tariffs and renewable energy targets differentiated by technology.

Malaysia joins Thailand and Taiwan in implementing such a policy. The Philippines has been delaying launch of a similar program for the past year. Japan has a much more limited program that only applies to solar photovoltaics (solar PV) and only pays for excess generation.

Ahmad Hadri Haris, the chief technical advisor to Malaysia's Minister of Energy, announced that the Dewan Rakyat (Malaysian House of Representatives) passed both the Renewable Energy Bill creating the feed-in tariff policy and the Bill for the Sustainable Energy Development Authority. Haris says that the legislation will be officially published in May and will likely go into effect in mid summer.

Like a growing list of countries that implement systems of Advanced Renewable Tariffs, such as Uganda, Malaysia's policy includes specific targets for each technology by year. For example, in 2011 Malaysia's quota for solar PV is 29 MW and in 2012 the target is an additional 46 MW. Approximately, one-third of the solar PV capacity is set aside for projects less than 1 MW in size.

In contrast to the Philippines, where its Renewable Energy Act was passed as early as 2008, Malaysia made steady progress from public consultation through passage of legislation, to expected implementation this summer.

By 2020, Malaysia expects to have installed more than 3,000 MW of new renewables of which about one-third (1,250 MW) will be from solar PV, and another one-third from biomass (1,065 MW).

Like sophisticated programs in Ontario, Canada, and Germany, Malaysia's feed-in tariffs are divided into multiple tranches. As in Ontario, solar PV is divided into six tranches, not including Malaysia's four separate bonus tranches for locally manufactured components.

• MBIPV Feed-in Tariff (FiT) pages--Page where all updates on Malaysian Feed-in Tariffs are posted by Ir Hadri. . .
• Discussion on RE Bill & Subsidiary Legislations (by Ir Hadri, 21 April 2011)
• Renewable Energy Bill (RE Bill)
• Bill for Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA Bill)
• Assessment of Proposed M'sian FiT with International Best Practise (Dr David Jacobs, Freie Universität Berlin)

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What's New on Feed-in Tariffs

• Malaysia Adopts Sophisticated System of Feed-in Tariffs--Joining several other Asian countries, Malaysia's parliament has approved a sophisticated system of feed-in tariffs to develop its renewable energy resources. . . By 2020, Malaysia expects to have installed more than 3,000 MW of new renewables of which about one-third (1,250 MW) will be from solar PV, and another one-third from biomass (1,065 MW). . .
• Request for Proposals, Bidding, & Tendering: Successful Policy Mechanisms or Multiple Paths to Failure?--While I've written extensively about feed-in tariffs as a policy mechanism for rapidly developing renewable energy, I've written very little about various forms of bidding systems. There's a reason I don't write about them. Long ago I concluded that bidding systems, in all their incarnations (Requests for Proposals, Tendering, Auctions, and so on), are not reliable mechanisms for developing renewable energy fairly and at a fair price. . .
• Testimony by Mike White for Maine Feed-in Tariff Bill--It’s time to loosen the grip of the monopolies that produce and distribute electricity You don’t have to be Florida Power & Light to build a solar plant on your rooftop. Maine people, small Maine businesses, and Maine Farmers could benefit from the passage of a feed in tariff law. . .
• Protecting Creation: Solar PV at Religious Institutions Driven by Feed-in Tariffs--One powerful advantage of feed-in tariff policies for developing renewable energy is that they permit the participation of people from all walks of life. One does not have to be Florida Power & Light to build a solar plant on your rooftop. . .

Update April 26, 2011: Since this article was originally posted I've been contacted by several congregations in North America explaining how they've used feed-in tariffs to install solar systems in their community. See the links below the article for these additions.

• Grist: Germans pay extra for clean energy—is it worth it? by David Roberts--When EEG was passed, the Greens responsible for writing it proclaimed that they intended to double the percentage of Germany's power coming from renewables within 10 years. They were roundly mocked as unrealistic. And they were indeed wrong: between 1999 and 2009, German renewables tripled, from 5.4 to 16.4 percent. . .

Japan, Feed-in Tariffs, and the Rapid Development of Renewables

• NYT: Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant--What happened next was an example, critics have since said, of the collusive ties that bind the nation’s nuclear power companies, regulators and politicians. . .
• Pourquoi le gouvernement fait le choix d’une électricité chère et dangereuse Par CORINNE LEPAGE Euro-députée--a powerful polemic arguing that French nuclear is neither cheap nor safe. Possibly the first salvo in a potentially bitter debate over the future of nuclear in France. . .
• Reuters: German utilities group favours 2020 nuclear exit--The leader of Germany's BDEW utility industry association said on Friday for the first time that the group favoured a speedy and complete exit from nuclear power by 2020. . .
• What Feed-in Tariffs Could Do for Japan's Electricity Shortage--What Japan Could Do if It Followed Germany's Lead on Renewable Energy . . . Within one Decade Japan Could Halve its Dependence on Nuclear Power . . .

Japanese translation by Masai Muto of this article titled: A consideration on Feed-in Tariffs for Japan's Electricity Shortage.

• Fukushima Nuclear Year-to-Year Reliability and German Wind--German Wind more Stable Year-to-Year than Fukushima Reactors . . .

This feed-in tariff news update is partially supported by An Environmental Trust and David Blittersdorf in cooperation with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The views expressed are those of Paul Gipe and are not necessarily those of the sponsors.

Paul Gipe
661 325 9590, 661 472 1657 mobile
pgipe@igc.org, www.wind-works.org