KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): While 25% of Malaysia’s installed electricity generation capacity is made up of renewable energy (RE) assets, they only generated 6% of total electricity generated in Malaysia.
“Now our capacity is 25%, which is not bad, but because of solar energy’s intermittent nature — with only for four to five hours [of peak output] — only 6% of our [actual generation] mix is RE, and that includes hydroelectric power,” Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.
This led Nik Nazmi to reiterate that the unity government’s plans to further push for cross-border RE trade to fund the country's RE aspirations, without overly burdening Putrajaya’s coffers.
He noted that by exporting RE at a premium, the nation will be able to fund the upgrading of the nation’s grid, which will require an investment of RM180 billion from now to 2050, as well as the required battery storage system to address solar energy’s intermittent nature.
Cross-border trade of RE will also help further the stability of the nation’s grid as well as electricity supply.
Touching on electric vehicles (EVs), Nik Nazmi also said that the government may need to relook at its set targets, including the targeted number of EVs it expects to populate Malaysia’s roads.
This was in response to Subang Member of Parliament Wong Chen underlining that the government’s current target of 1.5 million EVs by 2040 being only a 6.5% share of the current 23 million active vehicles in the country, and urged the government to increase the target to 20% or 30%.
“I agree. We may need to relook at the numbers set. A lot has changed, and perhaps we need to set a higher target for us to be able to achieve our goals meaningfully,” Nik Nazmi said in response.
“The lead ministry (custodian ministry) for EVs is the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, which has an upgraded EV task force under the unity government with the involvement of ministers, which should expedite decision-making,” he added.
Nik Nazmi reportedly said in March the government is targeting a total of 1.5 million EVs in the country by 2040.
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