Malaysia to build largest integrated solar PV plant in Asean

Malaysia is all set to build the largest integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Asean region.

The announcement was made during the launching of the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) last week.

In addition, the government will also introduce a separate scheme which will allow households to earn income through leasing out their rooftops for solar panel installations.

According to Economy Minister Mohd Rafizi Ramli, the one-gigawatt (GW) integrated renewable energy zone will be carried out by a joint venture between UEM Group and Itramas Corp. It will be led by Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

The roadmap has stressed on 10 flagship initiatives to transform Malaysia’s economy. As per the authorities, these “projects are expected to generate over RM25 billion in total investments, 23,000 job opportunities, and a reduction of over 10,000Gg of CO2 equivalent per year.”

Minister Rafizi remarked, “The government sees the energy transition as a “real opportunity to find our place in the world and in this region.”

It has been informed that the 10 initiatives include, “efficient switch to encourage energy efficiency; RE zone; utility scale energy storage system; energy security in Sabah; green hydrogen in Sarawak, co-firing of hydrogen and ammonia led by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) in collaboration with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas); biomass demand creation; future mobility; future fuel; and carbon capture and storage,” a local report quoted.

As per the roadmap, Phase 1 plans for setting up of five centralised large-scale solar parks with 100MW capacity each. Similarly, Phase 2 will focus on national energy mix and emission reduction targets.