Thestar: Wednesday February 8, 2012
By LEONG HUNG YEE
hungyee@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Power generation licence for public as issued by the Energy Commission has a two-year moratorium on changes to equity structure to prevent abuse of the feed-in-tariff (FiT) system and to allow other interested parties to apply, said Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (Seda) chief executive officer Badriyah Abdul Malek.
However, Badriyah said, renewable energy power purchase agreement for individuals owning solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in their homes allowed for the transfer of the feed-in approval (FiA) to the new owner upon the sale of their property.
Under the Renewable Energy Act 2011, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is obliged to buy renewable power produced by licensed players at special rates. The rates are known as feed-in tariff, and referred to the idea of producers selling their energy to the power grid.
“To prevent FiA holders from just sitting on their FiA certificates, the applicants are required to provide their work plan with milestones. If a milestone is reached and there is no progress even after a reminder has been sent to the holder, then the certificate may be revoked,” Badriyah told StarBiz.
As at September 2011, Malaysia has 40MW grid-connected power from biomass resources, 4.95MW from biogas resources, 12.5MW from small hydro resources, 5MW from solid waste resources and 2.5MW from solar PV resources.
Under the Renewable Energy Act 2011, TNB is obliged to buy renewable power produced by licensed players at special rates. When the e-FiT online system started on Dec 1, 2011, Seda received loads of application for FiT for solar PV. Quota for producing solar PV was snapped up instantaneously by companies due to the limited quota, high premium and guaranteed earnings over the next 21 years.
Under the Renewable Energy Act 2011, TNB will pay up to RM1.40 per kWh energy produced from solar farms that it buys from.
Due to the overwhelming response to solar PV, the FiT applications for solar PV are limited to a maximum 5MW rated capacity. There is another 2.36MW quota (for non-individual applicants for project size ranging from 1MW to 5MW) available from this year until the first half of 2014.
According to Seda's Renewable Energy Capacity Map, there are at least eight projects with capacity of 5MW approved, one with 4.5MW, one with 4MW while the rest ranges from 1.01MW to 2.47MW.
The project owners includes Cypark Suria (Pajam) Sdn Bhd (5MW), Ambang Fiesta Sdn Bhd (5MW), Silverstar Pavilion Sdn Bhd (2 x 5MW), Bumi Masyhur Industri Sdn Bhd (5MW), Diversified Harvest Sdn Bhd (5MW), Gading Kencana Sdn Bhd (5MW), Special Universal Sdn Bhd (2.5MW), Corporate Season Sdn Bhd (4MW), Gubahan Ceria Sdn Bhd (4.5MW) and Kumpulan Melaka Bhd (1.22MW).
There is little information about the project owners. A random check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) shows that Ambang Fiesta has Mahadzir Hashim and Datuk Abdul Talib Md Zin as its directors. The company was registered last August with no financial details available.
Silverstar Pavilion, which has two 5MW projects, was registered in November and listed Narayanaswami Subramaniam and Ramkumar Devarajan as directors.
Cypark Suria is a subsidiary of Cypark Resources Bhd. Cypark Resources had said it expected to generate annual revenue of up to RM17mil upon full commencement of its renewable energy park.
Kumpulan Melaka Bhd had previously announced that its RM40mil solar PV project would be developed on a 6.9ha land in Rembia, Malacca. The project is expected to be completed by year-end.
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