SEDA chief executive officer Datuk Hamzah Hussin.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia remains committed to strengthening the sustainable energy sector to drive economic growth.
It will also continue to support government programmes and policies in the energy sector, collaborating with industry, society and international bodies, said chief executive officer, Datuk Hamzah Hussin.
He said renewable energy (RE), as well as energy efficiency (EE), are important aspects in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change as well as to safeguard the environment.
"Malaysia has gazetted five RE sources under the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 725) including solar photovoltaics (PV), small hydropower, biogas, biomass and geothermal to be implemented under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism.
"However, only four sources, namely solar PV, small hydropower, biogas and biomass have been implemented in Malaysia and there is no geothermal generation plant that has begun operating,” he told Bernama recently.
SEDA Malaysia is a statutory body under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC), tasked to implement programmes related to sustainable energy, including increasing public awareness.
"SEDA’s contribution to the sustainable energy industry includes increasing sustainable energy-installed capacity, supporting EE practices in the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as supporting the nation’s aspiration to reduce green gas house emissions and achieving sustainable energy targets,” he said.
Hamzah said SEDA also prepared the Malaysia Renewable Energy Roadmap (MyRER) launched by the government in 2021, encompassing assessing the baseline of RE installed capacity and potential sources, developing specific RE technology targets and scenarios and developing a strategic roadmap.
"MyRER is our main reference for targets and action plans until 2035, namely, to achieve 31 per cent of RE share in the national installed capacity mix by 2025 and 40 per cent by 2035 (including major hydropower) in the nation’s electricity supply.
"MyRER is capable of contributing effectively to the socio-economic development which is expected to offer green jobs as well as private investments.
"The government targets to create 44,068 jobs and bring in cumulative investment of RM31.88 billion by 2035,” he said.
Among the major programmes implemented by SEDA are the FiT, Net Energy Metering (NEM), Sustainability Achieved Via Energy Efficiency (SAVE), Energy Audit Conditional Grant and training courses covering both RE and EE.
"To encourage the adoption of RE, the FiT mechanism is implemented under the Renewable Energy Act 2011, where approved FiT incentive holders can sell electricity supply generated to utility companies at a set tariff rate,” Hamzah said.
Additionally, the SAVE programme aims to increase awareness of management and energy efficiency through rebates for the purchase of energy-efficient electrical devices.
"As for the NEM programme, users that install solar PV systems can get to enjoy savings on their monthly electricity bill.
"If there is any excess electricity generated in the month, they can export it to the grid which would be offset in the electricity bill,” he said.
He added that SEDA Malaysia bears the responsibility to ensure the success of the nation’s sustainable energy agenda, which is an important mandate, and hoped that SEDA would continue to remain relevant as a leading agency in the government’s efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. - Bernama
