Emphasis on developing biomass, biogas

Wednesday September 1, 2010

By CECILIA KOK
cecilia kok@thestar.com.my

They are given more opportunity to be developed as renewable energy under feed-in tariff policy
PETALING JAYA: Biomass and biogas will be given more opportunity to develop as renewable energy (RE) resources during the first 10 years of the implementation of feed-in tariff (FiT) in Malaysia.
This is based on the quotas set for the various RE technologies under the proposed FiT policy by the RE/Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic (MBIPV) national project team under the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology & Water (see table 1).
Nevertheless, this does not mean that other RE technologies will be given less focus under the proposed policy.
The quotas allocated for each RE technology each year is to set a limit on the amount of electricity that can be paid for by the Government. It is based on the availability and cash flow management of the RE fund that will be put under the management of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, or Seda. This is to ensure that the RE fund can be managed more effectively.
“It is important that we manage the RE fund in an effective manner to ensure that FiT payments can be honoured over its entire duration and propel RE development in the country to achieve their maximum potentials in the short and long terms,” RE/MBIPV national project leader and chief technical adviser Ir Ahmad Hadri Haris told StarBiz in an email.

So far, the RE resources that have been approved under the proposed FiT are biomass (from plantation, agriculture, forestry residues and solid waste); biogas (from plantation, agriculture, forestry residues, animal waste, landfill gas and sewage gas); mini-hydro; and solar photovoltaic (PV).

As the cost of solar technology progressively reduces over the years of the FiT implementation, solar energy would supersede other technologies to become the most important renewable resources; and this was expected to happen after 2020, Ahmad Hadri said.
FiT forms part of the RE Act that will be tabled before the Parliament in October. It is part of the Government’s plan to boost RE contribution to Malaysia’s electricity-generation mix from less than 1% in 2009 to around 5.5% by 2015 (see table 2).
If passed by the end of the year, the mechanism is set to take effect from the second quarter of next year.
And with the policy in place, individuals or business owners can then sell electricity they generated from renewable resources to utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Sarawak Energy Bhd at a fixed premium rate for a specific period.
As of now, the indicative FiT rates for every kilowatt of RE generated are as follows: 27 to 31 sen for biomass; 28 to 32 sen for biogas; 23 to 24 sen per mini-hydro; and 85 sen to RM1.23 for solar PV. According to Ahmad Hadri, the indicative rates are still subject to change unless the RE Act is passed.
To participate in the FiT system, individuals or industries need to install two meters – one for power sold and the other for consumption. The meters will be read at the end of every month, and two bills will be issued – one stating the amount of renewable energy users generated and the other stating the amount of electricity from the main grid that users have consumed. Users will have to pay the amount due to the utility company for the electricity consumed, while the utility company will pay users for the renewable energy generated.
The Government believed that the FiT system would encourage the growth of renewable energy usage multi-fold from the estimated 55 megawatt (MW) to one gigawatt (GW) by 2015 and 4GW by 2030. That is in line with its aim to minimise the need for fossil-fuel power plants and reduce carbon emission.