Malaysia Hits 350 MW Residential Solar Quota for Net Metering

According to Malaysia’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), the 350 MW quota for residential solar under the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Rakyat initiative has been fully subscribed. To date, 306.07 MW of this quota has been approved for projects.

Launched in 2021, the NEM Rakyat initiative was designed to promote rooftop solar installations for households through net metering. Initially, a 150 MW quota was filled by November 2023, leading to an extension of 100 MW, followed by an additional 100 MW.

This initiative is part of Malaysia’s broader NEM 3.0 scheme, which incentivizes solar adoption through net metering. Earlier this year, the government introduced the Solar for Rakyat Incentive Scheme (SolaRIS), providing rebates of up to MYR 4,000 ($942.12) for residential solar systems. Since its launch, the rebate scheme has increased daily NEM Rakyat applications from about 100 to 150.

In addition to NEM Rakyat, Malaysia offers other net-metering schemes such as NEM GoMEn for government buildings and NEM Nova for commercial and industrial users. Currently, 45.68 MW of the 100 MW quota remains under the NEM GoMEn program, and 110.55 MW is still available out of the 1,100 MW quota for NEM Nova. Both programs will continue until the end of the year or until their respective quotas are filled.

Under all three net-metering programs, consumers use the solar energy generated for their own needs first, with any excess energy being exported to Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s utility provider.