Malaysia launches scheme enabling consumers to buy renewable energy

Malaysia’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has launched a program to enable domestic and industrial consumers in the country to buy electricity produced by renewable energy sources such as solar and hydropower.

Through the scheme, dubbed the Green Electricity Tariff (GET) program, the government will offer 4,500 GWh of power each year. GET customers will be charged an additional MYE0.037 ($0.087) for each kWh of renewable energy purchased. The energy is sold in 100 kWh blocks for residential customers and 1,000 kWh blocks for industrial consumers.

The new mechanism will come into force starting from January 1 and applications by consumers will be accepted by local utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) from December 1.

According to local media, nine Malaysian corporations have already submitted applications to be provided exclusively with renewable energy. These include, among others, CIMB Bank Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Nestlé (M) Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd, and Tenaga itself.

The Malaysian government is currently supporting distributed solar via net metering and large scale PV through a series of tenders. At the end of 2020, the country had around 1,439 MW of installed solar generation capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.