MALAYSIA CHOOSES NEW ENERGY, F-I-T

Malaysia Adopts Sophisticated System of Feed-in Tariffs, 3,000 MW New Renewables by 2020, 1,250 MW of Solar Photovoltaics by 2020
Paul Gipe, April 27, 2011 (Wind-Works)

"Joining [Thailand and Taiwan], Malaysia's parliament has approved a sophisticated system of…Advanced Renewable Tariffs [also known as feed-in tariffs, F-I-Ts] and renewable energy targets differentiated by technology…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…Renewable Energy Bill creating the feed-in tariff policy and the Bill for the Sustainable Energy Development Authority [had passed and said they] will likely go into effect in mid summer."

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"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…Malaysia's [2011] 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 contrast to the Philippines, where [a] Renewable Energy Act was passed as early as 2008 [but is still not implemented], Malaysia made steady progress from public consultation through passage of legislation, to expected implementation…"

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"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…[S]olar PV is divided into six tranches, not including Malaysia's four separate bonus tranches for locally manufactured components."