Malaysia will allow only non-renewable energy exports to neighbouring Singapore, while power sales to the island through self-developed transmission and interconnection facilities will not be allowed, said its Energy Ministry.
The statement, cited by news agency Bernama, said the government has also agreed that the wheeling charges for selling electricity to Singapore over a two-year trial period will be US$0.0228 (S$0.031) per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The decision was made to boost the development of the local renewable energy (RE) industry as Malaysia aspires to reach its climate change aspiration.
It will also allow the government to allocate additional solar quota to benefit Malaysian RE players.
According to the statement, the decision also frees up Malaysia’s government to increase its solar capacity within its national grid system.
The ministry also decided to release an additional 300 MW of solar quota under the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Net Offset Virtual Aggregation (Nova) programme, which allows businesses to install solar photovoltaic systems on their premises to harness solar energy for electricity use.
The additional quota can be applied through the Sustainable Energy Authority Development of Malaysia’s eNEM system starting from Nov 15.
“The release of the additional NEM Nova quota is expected to benefit more than 60 to 300 commercial and industrial customers and create new business opportunities for more than 100 local solar players,” the Energy Ministry said.
The updated guide for Cross-Border Electricity Sales will be published soon on the Energy Commission’s website, said the statement.