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Figure 22: Net Energy Metering (NEM) by Region

Figure 22: Net Energy Metering (NEM) by Region

The biodiesel 5% blend B5 was only fully implemented nationally 6 years after the passage of the Biofuel Industry Act in 2014. The biodiesel content in the biodiesel blend was increased to 7% for B7 in 2015 because of growing CPO stocks and declining CPO prices. There was a push to increase the blend to 15% in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), but it was shelved because of strong objections from the industry.

Biodiesel production in 2018 was 1.22 billion litres, and the amount exported in the same year was 570 million litres (Figure 23). In early 2018, the European Parliament (EP) wanted to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels by 2020 but retracted it in June 2018, after objection, and agreed to cap at the 2019 level until 2023 and then subsequently reduced to zero by 2030.

In 2019, SEDA developed the Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap (RETR) 2035 which includes the strategic roadmap to support Malaysia’s target in achieving 20% RE in the national installed energy mix for electricity generation by 2025 (excluding large hydro of more than 100MW) as well as to determine the future of the electricity scenarios at 2035. The RETR will start to be implemented in the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025).

In compliance with the RETR, the Energy Commission is now counting on LSS and NEM to increase the RE of the fuel mix including off-grid up to 20% in the 12th Malaysia Plan (2019-2025) (Figure 24). Calls for open tender by Energy Commission on LSS for up to 250MW in 2016 yielded an award of 450MW that would begin commercial operation in 2017-2018. A second LSS2 tender for up to 460MW in 2017 received bids totalling 1,632MW but was awarded 562 MW that would begin commercial operation in 2019 - 2020. Up to April 2018, four LSS projects had commenced operations with a total capacity of 34.5MW, representing only 7.65% of the total approved capacity. At the time this report was written the LSS scheme was still suffering from a slow commercialisation rate. On 29th May 2020, the Energy Commission called for a third tender on LSS for up to 500 MW to be operational in 2021.

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