KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 26): The government has announced an additional quota of 400MW under the net energy metering programme for household, commercial and industrial (C&I) segments from Feb 5 to Dec 31, 2024.
This comprises 100MW for the household segment (under NEM Rakyat), and another 300MW for the C&I segment (under NEM Nova), according to a statement by the Ministry of Energy Transition and Public Utilities.
This means a total of 450MW in NEM quota is still up for grabs from now until year end.
The announcement, in conjunction with the International Day of Clean Energy, follows the recent depletion of the quota for both categories in December last year.
Of the 150MW made available for NEM Rakyat previously, 149.9MW had been taken up, according to data from the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda).
Meanwhile, NEM Nova saw 796.3MW taken up out of 800MW made available for the segment, Seda data showed.
A third category, NEM GoMEn for government buildings, still had a balance of 50MW out of 100MW offered for the segment.
Take-up of the NEM quota — which specifically refers to rooftop solar installations — has accelerated since last year, following tariff revisions that make electricity more expensive for those who consume more.
It was reported previously that Malaysia’s rooftop estate had several gigawatts of solar potential.
Aside from NEM — which allows consumers to sell excess electricity generated back to the grid — consumers may also install solar panels for self-consumption (Selco) under a separate mechanism, which is not limited by any specific quota.
Separately, the government is also exploring a new rooftop leasing model, which allows homeowners with excess rooftop estate to lease out the space to asset owners in return for income.
Aside from the additional NEM quota, the ministry also revealed on Friday 2GW in large-scale solar (LSS) quota to be dished out via bidding, as well as 400MW in a low-carbon power generation programme through the New Enhanced Dispatch Arrangement (Neda) mechanism.