INGENIEUR
INGENIEUR
( c ) Net Energy Metering ( NEM ) The NEM is a programme regulated by the Energy Commission and administered by SEDA ; the programme has been implemented since November 1 , 2016 . NEM promotes installation of solar photovoltaic ( PV ) on buildings and electricity generated by the PV system is used for selfconsumption . Any excess electricity can be sold to TNB at displaced costs which are set by the Energy Commission . At the moment , in Peninsular Malaysia , excess electricity is sold to TNB at 31 sen per kWh for low voltage connection and 23.8 sen per kWh at medium voltage connection . NEM is widely deployed and this policy instrument is an organic succession to the FiT scheme . NEM effectively allows building owners to be “ prosumers ” by reducing electricity consumption from the grid and producing their own clean electricity .
Solar Photovoltaic ( PV ) Market
The solar PV market in Malaysia is still in early stages of widespread adoption . The underpinning market drivers for solar PV market in Malaysia are :
●●
The need to remove subsidy on fossil fuel in the electricity tariff to provide an equal playing field for solar PV ( and any other forms of RE );
●●
The need to introduce time of use ( ToU ) in the electricity tariff to reward solar PV generation that coincides with peak electricity demand ;
●●
The need to fully liberalise the electricity market and unbundle the single buyer model ;
●●
The need for policy to promote distributed PV generation without imposing superficial caps ;
●●
The need to introduce energy storage to manage intermittency of solar PV ; and
●●
The need to refrain from more coal fired power plants which may be stranded assets if more solar PV is introduced to the electricity market , or crowd out solar PV electricity due to its inability to reduce baseload
Having a large manufacturing industry in solar PV does provide a backyard advantage to Malaysia . Under the FiT , bonus tariff for locally assembled
PV modules and inverters are given a bonus incentive to promote the use of local products . Besides having a significant PV manufacturing industry in Malaysia , the country lies along the sunbelt and this means the country receives a lot of solar irradiance . Hence , the market potential for solar PV in Malaysia is vast boosted by the ever decreasing cost of solar energy .
Falling Prices of RE
Worldwide , the prices for RE have dropped considerably and these technologies are going through a steep learning curve . Some RE ( like hydro , wind and solar ) have no marginal cost and are fast approaching , or have approached grid parity . However , there are institutionalised barriers that require addressing in order for RE to be an effective game changer .
Despite falling prices of fossil fuel , some forms of RE have already achieved grid / socket parity with conventional fuels ( see Figure 1 ).
There are a few issues to address with regards to pricing of fuels :
●●
It is time we priced fossil fuel taking into account their environmental impact . In short , we need to internalise the cost of externalities to reflect the true cost of fossil fuel energy .
●●
If nuclear power is to be considered , this should include the cost of the full cycle , inclusive of permanent waste disposal and decommissioning of nuclear power plants .
●●
In considering fossil fuel / nuclear energy , the levelised cost of energy would increase due to the potential of higher cost of fuel and cost of GHG emissions .
Energy Balancing Market
The challenges for energy transition are not technologies nor adequacy of renewable resources , but the necessary paradigm shift of the electricity system . The future of energy shall be dominated by renewable energy especially energies with zero marginal costs , complemented by an energy balancing market . The archaic myth that renewable energy is expensive and
8 VOL 75 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018