KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): The government has announced the implementation of the sixth phase of Malaysia’s Large Scale Solar programme (LSS6), which is expected to attract private investment of between RM13 billion and RM15 billion.

In a statement on Thursday, The Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (Petra) said the programme will offer a total quota of 2,500 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity together with 1,250MW of battery energy storage system (BESS), as well as 150MW of solar capacity dedicated to Bumiputera companies in Peninsular Malaysia.

BESS is a large-scale battery system that stores excess electricity and discharges it when needed to ensure a stable energy supply.

The projects are scheduled to be commissioned in phases and targeted to achieve full commercial operation by Dec 31, 2029.

The projects are expected to create between 15,000 and 20,000 job opportunities during the phases of development and construction while reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by about 2.6 million tonnes annually, which is in line with the government’s commitment to accelerating the nation’s energy transition and expanding renewable energy (RE) generation capacity.

Under the LSS6, the government said it has introduced several policy improvements to ensure capacity offerings are fair, transparent, and competitive.

Among the improvements introduced, the project development will focus on strategic areas with high electricity demand growth, particularly in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia, and large-scale solar plants will be developed in hybrid form with BESS.

The capacity offer for each bidder is set between 60MW and 500MW for packages 1 and 2, while for package 3 the capacity offer is set between 10MW and 30MW.

LSS6 will be rolled out in three packages. Package 1 comprises an open tender for all developers covering 2,200MW of solar capacity and 1,100MW of BESS capacity.

Package 2 is an open tender for Bumiputera companies involving 300MW of solar capacity and 150MW of BESS, while package 3 comprises 150MW of Bumiputera solar programme without BESS.

Petra further noted that the request for proposal (RFP) documents will be available at the Energy Commission headquarters from July 27 to Aug 7 for packages 1 and 2, and from Aug 17 to Aug 28 for package 3.