Malaysia

The NEM 3.0 program will run until the end of 2023 and will see the participation of residential, commercial and industrial prosumers as well as public entities and government ministries.

The 13 MW array was deployed in the Selangor state on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The plant is selling power to local utility TNB under a 21-year PPA. The project’s levelized cost of energy is MYR 0.21608 ($0.051).

Sunday will herald the largest PV procurement exercise ever held in Malaysia. Half the available capacity will be directed to 10-30 MW facilities with the balance reserved for plants with capacities of up to 50 MW.

Four bids have been lodged for 100 MW projects and fifth for a 90 MW facility, all in peninsular Malaysia, to indicate the 500 MW tender will fall short of its intended capacity. The lowest solar power price lodged is for $0.042/kWh.

Sustainable Energy Development Authority figures show the country saw around 94 MW of new rooftop generation capacity added in the first 11 months of last year. That compares to less than 14 MW in the previous three years.

The $483 million fab will be built by an unnamed ‘multinational glass manufacturer’ at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, in the Sabah region.

The Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute is planning a huge solar power project which will integrate agriculture and livestock farming in the Sabah region. The research institute claims to have already secured $50 million for the project’s first, 200 MW phase. The 25,000ha required for the projects will host up to 150,000 cattle as well as cultivation of forage crops such as kenaf, corn, wheat and hay.

The Kuala Ketil Solar Farm is in the state of Kedah, northwest Malaysia. Built by Chinese state-owned Edra Power, the plant also hosts agricultural activity.

Selected projects will range from 1-100 MW in capacity. The procurement exercise is the third round of Malaysia’s LSS program for large-scale renewables.

The two-year period of the recommended safeguard duty is very short, discouraging any investment in setting up new solar manufacturing capacity, say analysts and companies pv magazine spoke to. At the same time, for solar project developers, the duty will impact tariffs to the tune of 12-15%, posing an immediate threat to viability of projects under execution, they add.