Renewable energy for continuous energy sustainability in Malaysia

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Renewable energy for continuous energy sustainability in Malaysia J.O. Petinrin n, Mohamed Shaaban Centre of Electrical Energy System (CEES), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 5 February 2014 Received in revised form 12 March 2015 Accepted 23 April 2015

Demographic change, dramatic population increase and rapid industrial growth are major trends emerging in Malaysia. Climate change and depletion of fossil fuel along with the rise in petroleum prices have forced the Malaysian Government to rethink strategies to be more in line with other developed countries including the decision to embark on renewable energy (RE) resources as a better source of energy amongst the global energy mix. The Malaysian Government is making frantic efforts to make policies, RE programmes and incentives more effective so as to promote and develop the use of RE. Malaysia is rich with fossil fuel but these are fast depleting. Although RE is necessary, current RE resources are still not enough. Therefore, exploration into other resources must be considered in order to meet future energy demands. The objective of this paper is to identify the potential of available renewable energy resources in Malaysia as well as the country's current implementation strategies. This paper also discusses the different RE policies in Malaysia. In order to determine the potential of RE, various sources and published materials in conferences, international journals and information released by relevant government bodies and miscellaneous resources are used. This research has revealed that among all the renewable energy sources that are present in Malaysia, biomass and solar energy are the most prospective ones. Plus, renewable energy (RE) sources are quite advantageous as they are free from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and related global warming effects. They can also be applied in off-grid electricity generation for rural communities. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Renewable energy Energy efficiency Energy mix Tidal energy Biofuel Policy

Contents 1. 2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

n

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 Status of renewable energy in Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 Renewable generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969 3.1. Five - fuel policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 3.2. Government Initiatives and Incentives to promote renewable energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 3.2.1. Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 3.2.2. Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971 3.2.3. Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 3.3. Renewable energy ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 Existing renewable energy sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973 4.1. Hydropower generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973 4.2. Biomass energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 4.3. Biofuel and biodiesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 4.4. Solar energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 Other renewable energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 5.1. Wind generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 5.2. Tidal energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978 5.3. Hydrogen fuel cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979 Challenges to renewable energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 60 0149971027. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (J.O. Petinrin).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.146 1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

968

7. Recommendations . 8. Conclusion . . . . . . . Acknowledgement. . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . .

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

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1. Introduction The existing power system is inefficient and environmentally unfriendly, as it tends to emit greenhouse gases (GHG). Climate change, reduction of carbon emissions and technological innovations have been of great concern globally [1]. The production, distribution and use of energy, particularly fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) and traditional biomass, have significant environmental impacts, even in Malaysia. These can also affect human health and cause ecological damage [2]. According to the statistics released by World Health Organization (WHO), indirect and direct impacts of climate change has led to 160,000 deaths per year and the rate is estimated to double by 2020 [3]. Every producer and consumer of electricity, including the government and academics, are researching and rethinking on how to overcome GHG emission and climate change as well as ways to improve power quality without having to construct a new grid that is too expensive. In recent times, certain new technologies have been introduced. These include integration of renewable energies (REs) such as wind, Solar Photovoltaic (PV), flywheel, biomass, battery, fuel cells, and distributed generation (DG) in the power system with specific focus on environmental friendliness. This has called for a robust and sustainable power transmission and distribution system (DS), which is intelligent, reliable, and environmentally friendly, such that it could overcome various problems associated with existing power systems. In contrast to the latter, the advantages of using RE sources are very high as they are free from GHG emissions and related global warming effects. RE can also be used in off-grid electricity generation for rural communities. There is unprecedented interest in RE sources, particularly solar and wind energy, which provide electricity without giving rise to carbon dioxide emissions. Presently, RE sources fulfil 15–20% of the world's total energy demand. The growing consumption of energy has resulted in Malaysia becoming increasingly dependent on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Rising price of oil and gas and their potential depletion in future lead to concern about the security of energy supply needed to sustain the economic growth. In view of diminution of fossil fuel, the search for alternative fuels such as RE resources has become inevitable [4]. The growing consumption of energy has resulted in Malaysia becoming increasingly dependent on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The rising price of oil and gas and their potential depletion in the future has led to concern regarding securing of energy supply needed to sustain economic growth. In view of diminishing fossil fuel, the search for alternative fuels such as RE resources has become increasingly inevitable [4]. This paper examines the potential of RE resources in Malaysia that can be harnessed for continuous energy supply and the government‘s efforts to ensure RE‘s sustainability. The contribution of this paper hinges on the efforts of the Malaysian government in generating, securing and sustaining non-polluting renewable energy in order to avoid global warming and exhaustion of fossil fuel. In addition to these, another objective is to make use of renewable energy as the best alternative to meet the growing demand in energy consumption and to provide electricity for those living in rural areas that are far from utility grids or in places where it is impossible to extend the utility grid.

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979 980 980 980

This paper is organized into sections. Section 2 outlines the status of RE in Malaysia beginning from independence up till now. The government's energy policies, initiatives, incentives and Renewable Energy Act are outlined in Section 3. Section 4 discusses existing RE while Section 5 explains the potentials of other untapped RE resources available in Malaysia. A set of proposed measures that can effectively mitigate the challenges of implementing RE in Malaysia is spelled out in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 provides the conclusions of this study.

2. Status of renewable energy in Malaysia There has been tremendous development in the Malaysian economy and infrastructure since her independence in 1957. The country is characterized by modern infrastructure facilities such as the Bakun hydro dam, the Petronas Twin Towers, and the SMART tunnel; a key enabler of this growth is Malaysia's affordable, secure and reliable electricity sector. Although initial electricity facilities were constructed during the British colonization, Malaysia has successfully continued to nurture their development and improve their reliability through her national policies, to ensure that these facilities continue to support her growth. The main national policy pertaining to the electricity sector in Malaysia is the National Energy Policy, which was formulated in 1979 [5] to ensure efficient, secure and environmentally sustainable supplies of energy, including electricity. Later, other policies were also formulated to address rising issues and concerns in the energy sector. Among these were the National Depletion Policy, the Four Fuel Diversification Policy and the Five Fuel Policy [6]. However, the policies formulated on RE are not cohesive and all-inclusive. According to the estimation of International Energy Agency (IEA), by the year 2030, global energy demand will increase at a rate of 1.6% and approximately 65% of the increase will be due to developing countries [7–9]. Limited fossil fuel is a critical issue worldwide [10]. Malaysia is one of the most rapidly developing countries among ASEAN countries next to Singapore, with GDP of US$15,400 per capita (PPP basis), and steady GDP growth of 4.6% in 2009 [11]. The Malaysian economy grew by 5% in 2005 and overall energy demand was expected to increase at an average rate of 6% per annum [12]. In parallel with Malaysia's rapid economic development, final energy consumption grew at a rate of 5.6% from 2000 to 2005 and reached 38.9 Million tonnes of Oil Equivalent (Mtoe) in 2005. The industrial sector is projected to have the highest growth rate of 4.3%; the Industrial sector alone accounted for some 8% of total energy use in 2007, which represents the highest percentage [11]. A reliable and adequate electricity supply is an important catalyst for the economic development of a country. Total installed generation capacity as of 31st December 2012 was 21,749 MW (MW), primarily fuelled by natural gas and coal, and supplemented by hydroelectricity. Details of installed capacity are illustrated in Table 1. With a peak demand of 15,826 MW recorded on 20th June 2012, system reserve margin stood at 37%. In terms of energy generated, its gross generation for 2012 was 108,443.1 gigawatthours (GWh) (from 1st January to 31st December 2012), an increase of 2.6% from the previous year. The Industrial sector

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

was the main user of electricity in Peninsular Malaysia with its share of 43.6% of the total consumption in 2012 [13]. Electricity demand in Malaysia rose from 7685 kilo tonnes Oil Equivalent (ktoe) (89,377 GWh) in 2007 to 9235 ktoe (107,403 GWh) in 2011 and 10,011 ktoe (116,428 GWh) in 2012. The electricity generation and consumption of various sectors of the economy in Malaysia is shown in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively [14]. Accordingly, based on an annual growth rate of 8.1%, it is forecasted that the final energy demand in Malaysia will reach 116 Mtoe in the year 2030 [15]. With this rapid development, Malaysia needs more resources to support her development and to enhance the productivity of capital, labour and other factors of production [15]. Malaysia is endowed with abundant RE sources, which are environmentally friendly in nature. However, the RE capacities are grossly under-utilized, particularly in regard to biomass, hydropower and solar. Also, other RE sources such as wind, tidal, hydrogen fuel cell and biofuel/ biodiesel are not even close to getting the much-needed attention they deserve. As the economy continues to expand, Malaysia‘s primary energy supply is expected to grow at 2.8% per year, from 65.9% Mtoe in 2005 to 130.5% Mtoe in 2030, driven mainly from the demand for coal and gas in the electricity generation sector and oil products in the transport sector. In 2009, almost 94.5% of electricity in Malaysia was generated from fossil fuel [16]. Although Malaysia has several RE sources like solar, hydropower and biomass, she is still largely dependent on fossil fuel. Malaysia‘s fossil fuel, however, is fast depleting. It is necessary to implement RE, but current RE resources (Biomass, solar and hydropower) are not enough to meet this need. Therefore, the government has to seriously consider exploration into other RE resources to meet future energy demands. The main issue facing the power sector in Malaysia is the problem of sustainability, that is, to ensure the reliability and security of energy supply and the diversification of various energy resources. The issue of diversification of energy resources is critical to ensure that the country is not dependent only on fossil fuel. Table 1 Installed capacity of electricity generation by type [13]. Type

Fuel

Capacity (MW)

Conventional thermal Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) Conventional thermal Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) Hydroelectric Total

Coal GAS GAS GAS Hydro

7170 9373 840 2455 1911 21,749

969

Energy resource security is also critical to ensure smooth implementation of development projects that would spur economic growth in Malaysia. The implementation of fuel diversification strategy brought about the drastic drop of oil usage in the energy mix contribution from 87.9% in 1980 to 2.2% in 2005, while natural gas and coal made up 70.2% and 21.8% respectively [6]. The rationale for this policy initiative was to reduce Malaysia's over dependence on oil in the overall energy consumption. This policy in the electricity sector aimed for a gradual change in fuel use from 74.9% gas, 10.4% hydro, 9.7% coal and 5% petroleum in the year 2000 to 40% gas, 30% hydro, 29% coal and 1% petroleum by the year 2020 [5]. Nevertheless, as fossil fuels still form a large share in Malaysia‘s energy consumption, not only will these nonrenewable energies be totally depleted one day and cause massive threat to energy security, their significant and prolonged contribution to GHGs emission would hasten the issue of global warming as well.

3. Renewable generation The problem of global warming and exhaustion of fossil fuel has fostered the increased usage of less environmentally polluting renewable energy sources closer to load demands in the distribution system. Renewable energy is the best alternative at providing

Table 3 Electricity generation (ktoe) in Malaysia, 2000–2012. Source: Malaysian Energy Info Hub. Year

Thermal

Co-generation

Hydro

Output % of total output

Output % of total output

Output % of total output

24 172 157 179 359 509 499 461 460 560 387 442 530

599 607 456 435 501 446 554 558 642 574 540 656 779

2000 5132 2001 5333 2002 5771 2003 6134 2004 6215 2005 6259 2006 6687 2007 7366 2008 7321 2009 7957 2010 8864 2011 9648 2012 10,253

86 87 90 91 88 87 86 88 87 88 91 90 89

4 3 2 3 5 7 6 5 5 6 4 4 5

Hydro

10 10 7 6 7 6 7 7 8 6 6 6 7

5955 6112 6384 6748 7075 7214 7740 8385 8423 9091 9791 10,746 11,562

Table 2 Electricity consumption (ktoe) in Malaysia, 2000–2012. Source: Malaysia Energy Info Hub. Year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Agriculture

Transport

Total

Cons

% Cons.

Cons

% Cons.

Cons

% Cons.

Cons

% Cons.

Cons

% Cons.

975 1081 1161 1248 1319 1395 1514 1598 1668 1792 1937 1974 2126

19 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 21 21

1478 1579 1698 1818 1979 2172 2272 2480 2598 2743 3020 3172 3325

28 28 29 29 30 31 31 32 33 33 34 34 33

2805 2930 3059 3242 3340 3371 3475 3587 3687 3719 3994 4045 4509

53 52 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 44 45

0 0 0 0 0 0 5 16 19 21 24 26 30

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

4 3 4 5 5 5 5 4 15 12 18 18 21

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

5262 5593 5922 6313 6643 6943 7271 7685 7987 8287 8993 9235 10,011

970

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

Table 4 Status of SREP projects as at 2010. Source: Energy Commission, Malaysia. No

1 2

Status

Operating Under construction/approved Total

Mini Hydro

Biomass

Biogas

Total

Project

MW

Project

MW

Project

MW

Project

MW

6 7 13

17.8 43.5 61.3

9 12 21

79.5 125 204.5

2 7 9

3.7 17.15 20.85

17 26 43

101 185.65 286.65

electricity for those living in rural communities far from utility grids or in places where extending the utility grid is impossible. Electricity demand increases 5 8% annually in Malaysia with a projection of 10 GW needed by the year 2020 [17]. Currently, there is a decline in domestic gas supply and an in increase in demand from competing sectors. Additionally, there is low domestic supply and slow economic growth in coal exportation, which may lead to coal supply shortage. Altogether, these are reason enough to spur the country to explore alternative energy sources. RE is attaining significant momentum due to, primarily, their benign environmental footprint, continued advancement in renewable generation technologies and their effectiveness as a local power source where generation is in close proximity to loads or consumers. In an effort to promote RE in Malaysia, the government has come up with various polices and initiatives. 3.1. Five - fuel policy With the hike in oil prices and growing environmental degradation, the Government of Malaysia (GoM) launched the Fifth Fuel Policy in 2000 (5FP2000) [18], which added RE as the fifth fuel during the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP) from 2001–2005, with more emphasis on sustainability and efficiency of energy developments [6]. The GoM recognizes that the conventional energy sources such as oil and natural gas are non-permanent and thus emphasis has been placed on nondispatchable energy sources such as biomass, biogas, municipal waste, solar and mini-hydro for electricity generation. From thereon, the GoM has focused on Energy efficiency (EE) in the industrial and commercial sectors as well as in the domestic (residential) sectors – utilizing RE by promoting new RE resources such as biomass, biofuel, landfill gas, mini-hydro and solar. The EE code of practice and use of RE for nonresidential buildings, known as MS1525, was established in 2001, revised and updated in 2006 [19]. However, the guidelines were not made compulsory for building owners, architects and engineers to comply with but instead provided a minimum standard for energy conservation. Therefore, only a small number of buildings were designed in compliance with MS1525. In order to enforce MS1525 implementation, the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication, Malaysia, has proposed amendments to the Uniform Building By-Law (UBBL) to incorporate EE features for commercial buildings. To fast track the implementation of the Five-Fuel Policy, the Government launched a Small Renewable Energy Power Program (SREP) in May 2001 [6,20]. The main objective of this program is to encourage production of RE via small power generators and allow the sale of generated electricity to utilities. Under this program, the utilization of all types of RE sources is allowed. RE projects were targeted to contribute 5% of generation capacity by 2005 (about 500 MW) [12]. However, only 12 MW capacity was achieved. Subsequently, under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the target was revised to 350 MW in year 2010. Unfortunately, as at the end of 2009, from a total of 17 RE projects approved with total capacity of 116.4 MW, only 8 projects were commissioned with total capacity of 58.1 MW. In 2008, the tariff for SREP projects was increased from 17 sen to 21 sen per kWh. Although the increase in tariff is expected to intensify further, any significant progress in

the SREP project is yet to be seen; an electricity tariff of 21 sen per KWh seems to not provide a high enough rate of return to attract investors or project developers, given the size of the projects under SREP. Energy efficiency is acknowledged as the most costeffective way to moderate energy demand and thus reduce expensive investments in new generation capacity. Many studies and programmes/projects, as shown in Table 4, have been carried out over the years. These have shown EE to be technologically feasible and economically efficient. However, penetration of energy-saving measures is quite low. 3.2. Government Initiatives and Incentives to promote renewable energy 3.2.1. Policies The GoM determines the Energy Policy of Malaysia that addresses issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption. The Department of Electricity and Gas Supply serves as the regulating body while other players in the energy sector include energy supply and services companies, research and development institutions and consumers. Government-linked companies i.e. Petronas and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) are the major players in the Malaysian energy sector. Governmental agencies that contribute to the policy are the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Energy Commission (Suruhanjaya Tenaga), and the Pusat Teknologi Hijau Negara, formerly known as Pusat Tenaga Malaysia. Among the documents that the policy is based on are the 1974 Petroleum Development Act, 1975 National Petroleum Policy, 1980 National Depletion Policy, 1990 Electricity Supply Act, 1993 Gas Supply Acts, 1994 Electricity Regulations, 1997 Gas Supply Regulation and the 2001 Energy Commission Act [21]. The framework for energy development in terms of energy diversification and efficient utilization including emphasis on sustainable environment started with the formation of the National Energy Policy in 1979 (NEP79), National Depletion Policy in 1980 (NDP80), Four Fuel Diversification Policy in 1981 (4FDP81) and the Fifth Fuel Policy in 2000 (5FP2000). NEP79 was formulated with three objectives, the first being Supply, with the aim of ensuring the provision of adequate, secure and cost effective energy supplies through the development of indigenous energy resources, both dispatchable and non-dispatchable energy resources using the least cost options and diversification of supply sources from both within and outside the country. The second objective is Utilization, which is to promote energy efficiency (EE) and discourage wasteful and non-productive patterns of energy consumption, and the third objective concerns the Environment, i.e. to minimize the negative effects of energy generation, transmission, conversion, utilization and consumption on the environment [21]. NDP80 was formulated and aimed at conserving the drain of crude oil and natural gas reserves. The National Energy Balance (NEB) was established in 1965 [22] to further provide assurance in formulating energy policies, backed up by sufficient energy data and trends. Also, to provide basic supply and demand data for all fuels, expressed in a common energy unit, thereby serving as a reference in formulating new policies for the energy sector. NEB

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

uses the Malaysia Energy Database and Information System (MEDIS), which is a comprehensive national database and information system that supports integrated national energy planning and acts as an information center for economic, demographic and other energy related data [23]. Emphasis on gas, hydro and coal in the existing energy mix led to the formation of the 4FDP81 policy, which aimed to avoid overdependence on oil as the main energy supply. Therefore, since the early 1980s, natural gas was the major fuel in electricity generation. 55.9% of the fuel mix in electricity generation for 2010 was from natural gas, followed by coal at 36.5%, hydropower at 5.8% and oil at 1.8% [23]. The contribution of a different energy fuel mix has been closely monitored over the years to minimize overdependence on any one fuel and, at the same time, ensure further diversification in the fuel mix when it comes to electricity production [21]. This is shown in Fig. 1 where, from the years 2000 to 2010, a reduction in oil and gas contributions in the fuel mix concerning electricity production was observed while that of coal increased. Fig. 2 shows the graphical trend of energy mix in Malaysia while Fig. 3 shows energy demand. The cumulative installed capacity of renewable resources from 2012-2014 in Malaysia is as shown in Fig. 4 and the renewable energy quota from 2011-2014 is shown in Table 5. Presently, 2% share of RE installed capacity has been achieved and 5.5 (985 MW) is target to be achieved by 2015 while 11% (2080 MW) by 2020. The GoM still needs to introduce an effective pricing law and an enabling

80

environment that will lead to a sustainable market and the encouragement of RE generation.

3.2.2. Initiatives The Ninth Malaysia Plan from 2006-2010, aiming to emphasize EE, was established as part of the GoM's efforts to efficiently use RE resources. A goal of 300 MW and 50 MW by 2010 was set for Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, respectively, to promote and provide a more conducive environment. However, only 56.7 MW of energy has been produced up till now [24]. Presently, RE contribution to the country‘s energy mix of gridconnected generation from SREP is 56.7 MW as compared to its true potential of 286 MW. The GoM projected RE to rise to 2000 MW by 2020 [25]. In early 2009, the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology was established to replace the Ministry of Energy, Communication and Multi-media and new Green Technology was launched in April 2009 as part of GoM‘s effort and seriousness in proving that RE is the way forward towards a sustainable economy-based solution [11]. Some of the initiatives taken by the government to promote RE include the implementation of the Biomass-based Grid Connected Power Project and the Malaysian Building Integrated Photovoltaic Project [22]. Malaysia’s electricity demand is expected to reach 18,947 MW by the year 2020 and 23,092 MW in 2030 which is a 35% increment from 14,007 MW in 2008 [21]. Presently, Malaysia’s electricity capacity through RE stands at 50 MW and this number is expected to reach about 2000 MW by 2020 [22]. NGTP2009 was launched in July 2009 by the Prime Minister (PM) of Malaysia,

Others Hydro Gas Coal Oil

70 60

Percentage (%)

971

50 40 30 20 10 0

2000

69,280 GWh

2005

2010

94, 299 GWh

137,909 GWh

Fig. 1. Fuel mix in total electricity generation in Malaysia, 2000–2010 [21]. (Source: 9 MP, 2006  2010).

Fig. 2. Energy mix trend in Malaysia, [9]. (Source: Malaysia Energy Commission Forecast).

Fig. 3. Total energy demand (ktoe), [9]. (Source: Preliminary Energy Outlook, PTM).

Fig. 4. Cumulative installed renewable energy capacity in Malaysia (Source: SEDA).

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Table 5 Renewable energy quota in Malaysia. Source: SEDA. Year

Biogas

Biogas  sewage

Biomass

Solid waste

Small hydro

Solar PV o 1 MW

Solar PV 41 MW

Total (MW)

2011/2012 2013 2014

20 20 20

10 10 10

60 50 50

20 30 30

30 30 30

10 10 10

40 40 40

190 190 250

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, to show the government‘s commitment in promoting low carbon technology, ensuring sustainable development while conserving natural environment and resources [9]. The objectives of NGTP2009 are: I. To minimize energy consumption growth while enhancing economic development. II. To facilitate the growth of the Green Technology (GT) industry and enhance its contribution to the national economy. III. To increase national potential and capacity for innovation in GT development and enhance Malaysia’s competitiveness in GT worldwide. IV. To ensure sustainable development and conserve the environment for future generations. V. To enhance public education and awareness on GT and encourage its widespread use. EE and RE will further be promoted and supported under this policy. The NGTP2009 is interested in the progress and improvements made in major sectors such as energy, buildings, water and waste management, and transportation as well as Research and Development (R&D), innovation and commercialization through collaboration with local and multi-national companies [21]. The energy fuel mix in Malaysia‘s energy equation needs to be refocused in order to give importance to RE. The government should also apportion a bigger part of RE in its energy usage to demonstrate its strong commitment towards sustainability.

3.2.3. Incentives The Government is making frantic efforts to make policies, RE programmes and incentives on RE more effective so as to promote and develop the use of RE resources [5]. A lot of subsidies have been paid by the GoM in order to keep the cost of petroleum fixed despite the global increase in fossil fuel [15]. The GoM and the Non-Financial Public Enterprises have invested a lot of money on provision of adequate, reliable and reasonably priced supply of electricity to the people. For example, a total of RM27.9 billion (USS$9.0 billion) was spent in the electricity supply sector under the Eighth Malaysia Plan. The amount was further increased to about RM30 billion (USS$9.67 billion) under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. These investments, coupled with strong policy measures, is expected to raise electricity coverage in Malaysia from 89.5% in 2000 to 95.1% in 2010, taking into account the rural electrification rate in Peninsular Malaysia that is currently at 99.0% [9]. Promotion of RE in Malaysia is based on SREP programmes. Investment Tax Allowance (ITA) or Pioneer Status (PS) has been provided by the GoM to boost the growth of RE in Malaysia from 2001 and this number has been increasing over the years [24]. Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) and the Energy Commission are the two implementing agencies for these incentives. The Energy Commission technically evaluates the energy efficiency of a project and its products while MIDA functions as the center for processing the given incentive. However, despite various fiscal incentives, only a few of the projects have been commissioned and launched. Nevertheless, year 2008 witnessed a rate of

significant progress on RE generation due to the increase in incentives given by the government. Therefore, a more proactive approach must be made to accelerate RE power generation in Malaysia. The GoM provides subsidies for conventional fuel sources in order to reduce the cost of petroleum. This subsidy should have been transferred to RE resources to promote RE installations. Over time, the growth rate of RE has shown an upward trend as more energy users are taking advantage of the incentive provided by the government. Nevertheless, the progress of RE generation has been slow going. 3.3. Renewable energy ACT Renewable technologies have seen an increase due to Feed-in Tariff (FiT) renewable energy. About 65 countries have implemented some form of FiT as at 2012, driving 64% of the world wind installations and 87% of the PV capacity that has been installed worldwide [26]. FiTs are the most effective policies to promote rapid and sustainable development of RE [27]. The scheme pays a tariff, which varies according to the technology and the size of the installation, for every kWh generated and depending on quality of resources. It also offers a small additional tariff for the lifetime of the scheme, which is linked to the retail price index. The FiT scheme encourages bridging of the gap between the cost of fossil fuels and renewable sources. The Renewable Energy Act (2010) was established in Malaysia to provide for the establishment and implementation of a special tariff system to facilitate the generation of RE and to provide for related matters. The Act also specifies that the participants will have guaranteed access to the grid and the power distributors (i.e. TNB for Peninsular Malaysia) will sign a long-term contract to buy the electricity. The Act proposed the generation of 7000 MW of electricity through RE resources by 2030. The objectives of the Act are to increase RE contribution in the national power generation mix, facilitate the growth of the RE industry, ensure reasonable RE generation costs, conserve the environment for future generation and enhance awareness on the role and importance of RE [24]. To further promote RE in Malaysia, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) of Malaysia was established under Act 726 in 2011. It was inaugurated to achieve the purpose of administering and managing the FiT method, which was mentioned under the Act. Feed-in Tariff implementation commenced from December 1st, 2011. With the implementation of the FiT system, by 2015, RE in Malaysia will make up 7% of the fuel mix, rising to 17% by 2020 [24]. FiT has been established as the most effective means and cost effective technique that proves RE is better than other policy strategies such as quotas, direct incentives or voluntary goals [24]. The FiT system provides opportunity for Distribution Licensees (DLs) to purchase electricity generated from RE from Feed-in Approval Holders (FiAHs) and to set the FiT rate. The FiT system equally guarantees access to the grid and sets a better price per unit of RE. In addition, it ensures that RE becomes a viable and sound longterm investment for individuals, companies and industries. The FiT rates for all RE (except for mini hydro) will decrease with time according to their respective annual digression rates because the

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cost of RE technologies are expected to drop as the technologies mature.

4. Existing renewable energy sources The increasing complexity of the conventional grid due to population growth, advancement in technology and infrastructure, all of which contribute immensely to instability, insecurity, poor power quality and insufficient energy sustainability, calls for the use of renewable energy as a sustainable power supply [28]. The development of distributed generation has increased since the privatization of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and is currently being further encouraged by the governments' new energy policy. The primary aim is to supply energy that is environmentally friendly, which supports a relatively low carbon economy. Renewable energy (RE) has been generally accepted globally as a better way of mitigating greenhouse emissions, controlling environmental and climate factors whilst simultaneously meeting the need of increasing energy demand especially in rural communities. The largest share of world electricity generation is from coal. It accounted for 42% of total electricity generation in 2007, and its shares is largely unchanged through 2035. With

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government support and incentives and policies globally supporting the development of RE facilities, the world generation from renewable share will increase from 19% in 2007 to 23% in 2035 [7] as shown in Fig. 5. RE are energy derived from resources that are regenerative, and do not deplete over time unlike fossil fuels. Recent Research and Development (R&D) in renewable energy sources (RESs) have shown excellent potential, as a better alternative energy mix and acts as a form of supplementary contribution to convectional power generation system. Fig. 6 shows the world renewable energy capacities. The main sources of energy in Malaysia are from oil and gas. However with the oil reserves estimated to last another 18 years and gas reserves another 35 years [21], the Government of Malaysia (GoM) is making frantic efforts to promote the use of RE as one of the pillars for energy generation. The importance of RE as a powerful resource of strong economic growth is further reinforced in the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP) from 2011-2015, with an emphasis on energy efficiency (EE) both in generation and utilization with strict compliance of environmental objectives [21]. RE was added as the fifth source of energy when the Four Fuel Diversification Policy was replaced with the Five Fuel diversification Policy in 2000. It was promoted with more emphasis under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) from 2006-2010 [18]. The Government is making frantic efforts in ensuring policies, RE programmes and incentives on RE are effective in promoting and developing the use of RE resources. A programme was set up in such a way that small power generating plants such as solar, wind, biomass, min hydro, all of which uses RE, can apply to sell energy to Malaysia's utility company, TNB. Biomass (including biogas), solar and hydro energy generation are the major RE resources in Malaysia. Fig. 7 details identified resources based on their availability and utilization prospects [11].

4.1. Hydropower generation

Fig. 5. World electricity generation by fuel, 2007  2035, [7].

Hydropower generation stands as one potent option to facilitate continuous energy supply worldwide, through RE, to meet

Fig. 6. World renewable energy capacities [7].

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Renewable Energy Sources

Biomass

Palm Oil

Woods

Trunks

Forest

Municipal

Landfill Gas (LFG)

Hydro

Rice

Rice Husk

Sugar cane

Mini Hydro

Bagasse

Solar

Thermal

PV

Fiber Saw Mill

Organic Fertilizer

Shell

Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)

Molasses Straws

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Fig. 7. Major renewable energy resources in Malaysia [11].

the growing energy demand [29]. The world hydropower capacity in 2004 was 2819 TWh and is projected to be 4903 TWh by the year 2030, with 1.8% growth rate per year, though the share will remain at 2% of the world energy supply [30]. A large number of world hydropower development projects with a total capacity of about 100 GW are currently going on. The greatest contribution comes from Asia (which Malaysia belongs to) at 84 GW [31]. The only RE technology that is presently, commercially viable on a large scale is hydropower. It is the least costly way of storing the amount of electricity produced, and it can easily adjust the amount of electricity produced to the amount demanded, and it produces negligible amounts of GHGs. Energy generated from hydropower makes up 10% of the electricity in the United States (US). New Zealand uses hydropower for 75% of its electricity while Norway produces more than 99% of its electricity from hydropower [32]. In contrast, Malaysia only produces 11% of its electricity from hydropower [33]. Hydroelectric power will play an important role in Malaysia's energy mix. For Penisular Malaysia, hydropower share is expected to increase from 5% in 2008 to 35% in 2030. 29,000 MW hydro power projects spanning 22 years (of which 2/3 are in Sarawak) [11] are in progress. The hydroelectric projects that have been identified are located in Peninsular Malaysia i.e. in Nenggiri (450 MW), Lebir (272 MW), Galas (108 MW), Ulu Terengganu (516 MW), Tekai (156 MW), Telom Dam (91 MW), and Maran (109 MW). In Sarawak, the projects are located in Murum (940 MW), Baleh (950 MW), and Pelagus (770 MW) while only Liwagu (164 MW) is involved in Sabah [6]. From an economic point of view, it is clear that hydropower requires substantial initial investment costs, which can be a deterrent to potential developers. However, this should be balanced against the long life and operating costs of hydropower plants, and the fact that there is no consumption of fuel for energy generation. From a rural development point of view, in comparison to diesel generators, micro-hydro turbines can be used in the hot and humid climate of Malaysia to provide electricity for rural dwellers [34]. The generation mix in Malaysia will be much more effective if all these identified hydro projects are implemented. However, the challenges of its implementation are many, including significant impacts to

land-use, socio-economics, and the environment, which makes it questionable whether all of this potential can actually be effectively harnessed. 4.2. Biomass energy Renewable energy resources can be a good substitute for fossil fuels, which are fast depleting. Nowadays, biomass and biofuels are seriously being considered because of their environment-friendly characteristics and their ability to supply much more energy than conventional energy sources [35]. Malaysia is experiencing drastic growth in both population and economy and this has called for the need to explore alternative energy sources to support her population and commercial energy demand. Biomass, the fourth largest energy resource in the world, is abundantly found in Malaysia [36]. Biomass is one of the most important potential sources of renewable energy in Malaysia, due to enormous output from palm oil residues and wood wastes including rice husk, sugarcane and municipal waste as shown in Fig. 7. Biomass fuel account for about 16% of the energy consumption in Malaysia, of which 51% is from palm oil and 22% from wood waste agricultural sources. Agro-based industries also contribute to biomass resources [37]. Biomass and solar energy seems to be the most promising RE sources in Malaysia that could overcome the increasing energy need while preserving the environment. Wide-spread biomass cogeneration will result in reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. To this end, a Biomass Power plant was commissioned in October 2002. It was a project jointly funded between the Malaysian government, Malaysia‘s private sector, the Global Environmental Facility and the United Nations Development Program with the objective of reducing the growth rate of CO2 emissions. Malaysia is blessed with palm trees. Therefore, the use of waste residue from palm produce for biomass generation has the potential to accelerate the wider adoption of grid-connected biomass-based power generation and co-generation. In addition, the generation of energy from agricultural waste seems to be very attractive based on bio-resource sustainability, environmental quality and economic consideration. From the programme, it is expected that a better environment will be

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

created in Malaysia due to biomass and co-generation from palm oil mills. Malaysia, one of the world‘s largest producers and exporters of palm oil for the last forty years, implemented the National Biofuel Policy (NBP2006) in 2006 to promote the usage of biofuel from palm oil as an alternative, environmentally friendly energy source for the transport sector. The use of biofuel reduces the use of fossil fuels and minimizes the emission of GHGs [21]. However, lack of expertise in optimization of biomass residue has slowed the progress of biomass utilization in Malaysia. Therefore, most industries are not aware of their benefits and are reluctant to take the risk of utilizing biomass for power generation [16]. Table 6 shows the potential of biomass electricity in Malaysia. 4.3. Biofuel and biodiesel Palm oil is the main raw stock for biodiesel production in Malaysia, which boasts the most active palm industry in the world [38]. One of the environmentally friendly renewable energy is Table 6 Biomass electricity potential in Malaysia. Product

Quantity (kton/yr)

Potential generation GWh)

Potential capacity (MW)

Rice mills Wood industry Palm oil mills Bagasse Palm oil mill effluent Total

424 2177 17,980 300 31,500

263 598 3197 218 1587

30 68 365 25 177

72,962

5863

665

Fig. 8. Oil palm efficiency vs other major oil crops (Source: Oil World 2013) [39].

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biodiesel. It is biologically produced from vegetable oil and animal fats using a trans-esterification process. Biodiesel can save costs for taxpayers and private businesses since it can be produced by farmers that grow various fuel crops [38]. Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils in the market with a crop-specific sustainable certification standard, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) [39]. Palm oil is the most efficient oilseed in the world. One hectare of palm oil plantation is able to produce up to ten times more oil than other leading oilseed crops as shown in Fig. 8 Indonesia and Malaysia produce about 85% of the world's palm oil. Other producer countries include Nigeria, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Columbia. 62% of Malaysia land area consists of forest and this includes some of the world's oldest rainforests. The palm oil plantation in Malaysia make up of 77% of agricultural land or about 15% of total land area [39]. Malaysia produces enormous amounts of biomass from this industry [40]. Malaysia has the potential to utilize palm resources into RE especially biofuel. With the tropical weather and average rainfall reported to be 200  250 cm per year [15], biofuel can be one of the best energy sources for Malaysia, which has huge jungles and an economy based in agriculture [41]. Table 7 shows biomass resources and their estimated energy potential in Malaysia. Palm trees from which palm oil is extracted can be grown easily in Malaysia. In order to promote the production of biodiesel, Malaysia designed a palm diesel programme in 1980 and the biodiesel based on palm oil was programmed to have 5% palm oil and 95% diesel blended for vehicles and industries in 1982 [42]. The GoM established the Malaysian Palm Oil board (MPOB) in 2000. Its principal objectives are to conduct and promote research and development in palm oil tree breeding, palm oil nutrition and potential oleo-chemical use [39]. The MPOB with the cooperation of PETRONAS developed a special biodiesel generation based on palm oil. 42.3% global palm oil production and 48.3% of world‘s palm oil export is from Malaysia [43]. Malaysia is one of the largest biodiesel producers that uses palm oil as feedstock. It is evident that palm oil has a very convincing capability as a source of renewable energy. Potential sources of renewable energy from palm oil are shown in Fig. 6. Biodiesel technology should be used as a source of renewable energy for a clean environment. By implementing this valuable strategy, fossil fuel dependency will reduce and palm oil demand for biodiesel will increase. The GoM is prepared to support and subsidize development of technology that will convert palm oil into biodiesel and lignocellulose into bioethanol. Palm based-biofuel refineries have been constructed with the ultimate objective to displace petroleum fuels and fulfil domestic energy demand [40]. Off-grid electricity produced from bio-energy project with a capacity of 14 MW has also been established in Kunak, Sabah et al. [36]. These initiatives have provided the opportunity to expand the capacity of rural electrification. However, if only 8% of land area used for palm

Table 7 Biomass resources and their estimated energy potential in Malaysia. Type of industry

Production (Mton)

Type of biomass

Residue generated (Mton)

Calorific value of biomass (kj/kg)

Potential energy generated (Mton)a

Oil palm

59.8c

Paddy

2.14c

Sugar Wood

1.11c 1.67d 0.3d 11,940 t/d

Empty fruit bunches Fronds and trunk Fiber Shell Palm kernel Rice husk Rice straw Bagasse Sawdust Plywood residue Municipal solid waste

12.30c 21.10a 8.75c 3.94c 2.11a 0.47c 0.86c 0.36c 0.96d 0.069d 

18,838a,b  19,068a,b 20,108a,b 18,900a,b 15,324e 13,620f 8021g 19,008  19,188h 10,000  19,000i 9500j

5.53  3.99 1.89 95.00 0.17 0.28 0.069 0.44 0.024 

Municipal waste a

Potential energy generated (ton)¼ residue generated (ton)¼1000 kg  calorific value (kj/kg)/41868000 kj.

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cultivation is used to provide biofuel, Malaysia can only fully utilize palm biomass to fulfil 35.5% of energy demand in the country. 4.4. Solar energy The Sun is another source of renewable energy. The scientific challenge is finding the most efficient way to collect, convert, store and utilize this renewable energy resource at an affordable cost. Energy radiated from the Sun is about 3.8  1023 kW, which is 1.082 Mtoe per day [44]. Approximately 70% is absorbed by the ocean, land masses and clouds while the rest is released back into space. Sunlight absorbed by land masses and the ocean keeps the Earth surface at an average of 14 1C [45]. Through photosynthesis, green plants convert solar energy (also known as PV), into chemical energy, which produces food, wood and biomass from where fossil fuel is derived [46]. However, all REs derive their energy from the Sun except for tidal and geothermal energy. Solar energy is gaining remarkable popularity in residential, commercial and industrial applications. Solar energy is an alternative to generation of electricity. It is paramount that solar energy be applied in a wide range of uses. With about 37,007 MW of solar PV power installed in 2013, world solar PV power capacity increased about 35% to 136,697 MW [47] as shown in Fig. 9. 136697

140000 120000

99690

Power (MW)

100000 80000

70168

60000 40183 40000 20000

23108 15795 9146 5085 6629 1275 1599 2050 2614 3700

13

11

12

20

20

10

20

20

08

09 20

20

06

05

07 20

20

20

03

04 20

02

01

20

20

20

20

00

0

Year Fig. 9. Global solar power cumulative capacity. (Source: World Solar Power Capacity Increase, 2014) [47].

Climatic conditions are favourable for the development of solar energy in Malaysia due to abundance of sunshine throughout the year. Malaysia is situated on the South China Sea and lies between 11 and 71 in North latitude and 1001 and 1201 in East longitude with an average solar radiation of 400  600 MJ/m2 per month [48] as shown in Fig. 10. Different applications of solar energy are being employed more than ever due to its non-environmental-polluting greenhouse gas emission (GHG). Numerous feasible, state-of-the-art technologies involving solar energy applications in the agricultural sectors in Malaysia is extensively discussed in [49]. The authors explained that a solar energy system is suitable in agricultural applications especially in rural areas since the solar energy required in different phases of agriculture makes the system maintenance free without any environmental impacts [49]. Solar energy is estimated to be four times more than the world fossil fuel resources and has been identified and incorporated into SREP in Malaysia as one of the REs in 2003 [11]. The characteristic features of the climate in Malaysia are light winds, uniform temperature, high humidity, and copious rainfall. Being an equatorial country, Malaysia has uniform temperature throughout the year [50] and the mean daily solar radiation in most places in Malaysia is in the range of 4.7 6.5 kWh/m2. The lowest solar radiation was estimated at 0.61 kWh/m2 in December while the highest was 6.8 kWh/m2 in August and November [51]. The annual mean temperature varies from 26 1C to 28 1C and as it is a wet climate country, there is abundant solar radiation, although the cloud cuts off a substantial amount of sunshine. Under these climatic conditions, solar energy due to the abundance of sunshine throughout the year is a promising source of energy in Malaysia. The summary of yearly average solar radiation in different towns in Malaysia is shown in Table 8 with Kota Kinabalu, Bayan Lepas and George Town having the highest levels of solar radiation. The advantages of a solar energy system are that the operating costs are fairly cheap, there is no pollution or the production of GHGs and it could be modular. However, the PV modules are costly. In order to reduce the high cost of PV modules due to importation, the Malaysian Energy Center carried out a project named Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic (MBIPV) to incorporate PV gridconnected systems aesthetically into the building architecture and envelope. The project is aimed at creating the necessary conditions that will, in turn, lead to sustainable and widespread application of BIPV. One of the activities undertaken under the MBIPV is a PV

Fig. 10. Annual average solar radiation (MJ/m2/day) [20].

J.O. Petinrin, M. Shaaban / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 967–981

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Table 8 Yearly average solar radiation in Malaysia. Town

Yearly irradiance (kWh/m2)

Bandar Baru Bangi Banyan Lepas George Town Ipoh Johor Bahru Kota Baru Kota Kinabbalu Kuala Lumpur Kuala Terenggamu Kuantan Kuching Petaling Jaya Seremban Senai Taiping

1487 1809 1785 1739 1625 1705 1900 1571 1714 1601 1470 1571 1572 1629 1768 Fig. 11. Actual renewable energy mix as at 2012 in Malaysia [17]. (Source: SEDA).

5. Other renewable energy sources Renewable energy can fully provide for our electricity needs by using biomass and biogas to meet base demand, and solar and wind to meet peak demand. The innovations that are required are those that can turn wastes into fuels, and those that harness solar and wind energy into performing useful work [3]. Even so, there are still many untapped RE resources in Malaysia. 5.1. Wind generation Globally, the fastest growing energy resource is wind energy. The world wind energy capacity has grown exponentially [55]. Global wind power installations increased by 35,467 MW and 51,447 MW in 2013 and 2014, respectively. As at the end of 2014, total Global cumulative installed wind capacity amounted to 369,553 MW and increased by 16% compared to the previous year (318,106 MW) as shown in Fig. 12. China accounted for nearly half of all of the installations at 18,000 MW in 2011. At the end of 2014, China had 114,763 MW of wind power installed. Several countries around the world achieved high levels of wind energy penetration,

400

369.6

350

Power (GW)

318.6 283.1

300

238.1

250 198

200

159.1

150

120.7 93.9

100 50

17.4 6.1 7.6 10.2 13.6

23.9 31.1

39.4 47.6

59.1

74

07

06

08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13 20 14

20

20

05

20

04

20

03

02

01

00

99

20

20

20

20

20

19

97

98 19

19

96

0 19

market induction programme, known as SURIA 1000. It started from September 2006 but launched on the 22nd of June 2007. The programme affords the customer to bid for price rebates on PV systems. As at present, the utilization of solar power systems in Malaysia is only limited to small food and beverage industries, upper middle class urban homes and solar water heating systems in hotels. With the tremendous potential of PV systems especially for rural areas in Malaysia, the price of PV modules is still too expensive for mass production. Solar energy has been a key driving force in the RE mix mainly due to FiT, direct consumer level participation and no fuel procurement risk. Energy mix in Malaysia has been discussed extensively in [52,53]. Fig. 11 shows the actual RE mix as at year 2012. Although the capital investment of solar energy is a major factor, the efficiency of solar energy still needs to be considered and improved so that governments are convinced to invest and to rely more on this form of alternative energy that could meet rural energy needs [49]. With a maximum solar radiation of about 6.027 kWh/m2 per day in Sabah and 5.303 kWh/m2 per day in Sarawak, the potential for applying solar energy for rural electrification is highly evident [54]. The GoM can use off-grid electricity generation from solar energy to promote rural electrification in the area where the cost of distribution, associated transmission loss, and grid power supply in rural areas are not economically viable.

Year Fig. 12. Global wind power cumulative capacity. (Source: Global Wind Power Outlook, 2014), [57].

these accounted to 14% in Ireland, 9% in Germany, 18% in Portugal and 14% in Spain while Denmark recorded 39% of stationary electricity production [56,57]. The potential for wind energy in Malaysia depends on the availability of wind resources that vary with specific locations. Malaysia is located in the equatorial region, situated in the South East part of Asia [15] and its climate is governed by the monsoon. Malaysia has a geographic coordinate of 21 30ʹ in the north latitude and 1121 30ʹ longitude. Malaysia experiences a wet and humid condition throughout the year with daily temperature ranging from 26 1C to 28 1C [50]. The monsoon season, namely the southwest monsoon, northeast monsoon and two short inter-monsoons influences the wind that blows across the peninsula and Sarawak and Sabah. Malaysia is a maritime country, which is also influenced by the effect of sea breezes and land breezes especially when the sky is not cloudy. Sea breezes occur with speeds of 10 15 knots during the afternoon [58]. According to Daut et al. [59], the wind speed in Kangar, Malaysia, is, on average, 2.252 m/s. The average wind turbine generation during the day is 31 V and 20.3 V at night, which is not strong enough to generate electricity commercially as compared to European countries, the United States and China. However, this statement cannot be used to determine the wind energy potential in Malaysia. This is because the authors did not explore other locations other than Kangar where their research was carried out. Wind farms are feasible in Malaysia and are highly promising as a renewable energy source. The Energy Information Bureau considers it a serious alternative. The first wind farm in Malaysia was located at Pulau (island) Terumbu Layang-Layang, Sabah. The use of 150 KW turbines on the island, demonstrated by University Kebangsan

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Malaysia (UKM) in 2005, has shown a degree of success. Terumbu Layang-Layang has the largest wind energy potential compared to Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu, which also have wind energy potential [60]. Malaysia wind speed ranges between 2.00 m/s and 5.20 m/s [61]. Offshore wind speeds are generally higher than coastal wind speed. Hence, offering higher available energy resources, which Malaysia can take as an advantage. A study carried out by a science student from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for 16 different locations nearest the sea grid to the Malaysian coastline, all facing the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Straits of Melaka, revealed that wind speed at the location in East Peninsular Malaysia reached above 5 m/s during northeast monsoon season (the major rainy season in the country is the northeast monsoon) [58]. It was discovered by Cellura et al. [60] that the availability of power at different areas of three specific East Coast islands of Peninsular Malaysia was affected by the weather pattern. In the study carried out on the island in [58], the mean recorded power density of the island of Redang, Perhentian and Tioman was 85.1 W/m2, 49.8 W/m2 and 3.4 W/m2 respectively [62]. The results now prove that certain places like the islands have wind energy potential that can be utilized in Malaysia and a hybrid wind-solar generation can be utilized in the Perhentian region. In the case of Perhentian, the wind turbine could be jointly equipped with solar PV. The solar PV supplies power in the day whenever there is low wind while the wind turbine supplies power in the night when there is no solar generation, but the excess energy from the sun during the day can be stored in an energy storage device, which can be utilized at night [63,64]. The hybrid wind-PV grid connected is shown in Fig. 13. Malaysia is blessed with good potential for wind farms since the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia that faces the South China Sea during the monsoon season (November–February) experiences an average wind speed of up to 15.4 m/s [58]. In recent years, two wind turbines of 100 MW capacities were installed by TNB in Pulau Perhentian. In addition to this, the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development installed eight small wind turbines between 5 MW and 100 MW capacities to meet the needs of rural dwellers in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia [54]. Electrical power can be generated from wind energy in some parts of the rural areas in the coastal and offshore regions in Malaysia. However, wind energy in Malaysia has not been explored to the fullest and implementation is not as expected [58]. The major problems associated with this kind of energy are lack of expertise, inefficient energy management and insufficient advanced technology.

5.2. Tidal energy The periodic changes of water levels due to the gravitational attraction forces between the Earth, the Sun and the Moon can be transformed into a RE resource known as tidal current energy. The tidal forces produced by the Moon and Sun, in amalgamation with Earth‘s rotation, are responsible for the generation of tidal movement [15,65]. Because of this, tidal power is basically never-ending and can be classified as a RE source. The stronger the tide, either in water level height or tidal current velocities, the greater the potential for tidal energy generation. Land-based RE technology are already facing limitations due to conflict over land-use, so the seas and oceans offer enormous open spaces where prospective, new energy technologies could be deployed on a magnificent scale, without impact on either human activities or the environment [66]. The ocean, which covers more than 70% of our planet, is a huge reservoir of RE. If properly exploited, this environmentally friendly source of energy can contribute towards meeting the increasing global energy demand. However, offshore RE resources are generally more expensive and difficult to harness than the on-land RE resources and this has resulted in limited experience concerning the workings of tidal energy. Very few and limited studies have been carried out on ocean-based energy sources in Malaysia and most of them are assessment studies. Lim et al. [40] identified that Sibu, Kota Belud and Pulau Jambongan are the locations with great potential for tidal energy. The research was carried out using a three-dimensional ocean model of Malaysia, which was created in Princeton Ocean Model code and calibrated against observed tidal measurements. The amount of total electricity that can be generated in these locations is about 14.5 GWh per year. This amount is much higher than the amount of targeted electricity from PV systems for the year 2010. With this amount, the utility company or the government can potentially save about RM1.1 billion of natural gas and avoid total greenhouse emissions of 4553 kt per year. From the study conducted by [65] using the barrage approach to determine power availability in Malaysia, there were six (6) sites distributed across east and west Malaysia as shown in Table 9, which gave power availability between 76.16% and 63.33% at the time. It was discovered that a single turbine with 5 m long blades installed at the site with the highest potential at Sejingkat could generate 14,970 kWh of energy monthly. This is enough to supply

Fig. 13. Hybrid (Wind-PV) System [64].

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75 households. Applying the Tidal Stream approach, the study at Sandakan and Pulau Pangkor shows equally promising results of 80% and 57% power availability, respectively, as shown in Table 10. The technology for tidal turbine systems is already available and without doubt, given the experience accumulated, the resources in Malaysia is substantial and available [15]. Tidal-current systems will offer opportunities for supplying energy in island communities as well as in rural and coastal areas.

5.3. Hydrogen fuel cells The Hydrogen fuel cell is the most abundant element on earth. It is identified as one of the most viable and long-term RE alternative to fossil fuel. It uses its electrochemical cell to produce electricity directly from hydrogen and air (oxygen) without CO2 emission. Although, hydrogen fuel cells operate like a normal battery, it does not run out or require charging as long as fuel is supplied to it. Presently, research and development to utilize hydrogen fuel cell in the transportation industry is still on going. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation funded hydrogen production and storage technologies worth RM7 million ($2.3 million) between 2002 and 2007 and spent RM34 million ($11 million) on national fuel cells from 1996 to 2007 as utilization of fuel cells at the time were viewed as one of the more important energy conversion devices in the nearest future [11].

Table 9 Power availability at 6 sites around Malaysia, using Barrage approach [65]. Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Average

Total monthly availability in percentage (%) Sejingkat Pelabuhan Kelaug

Pulau Langkawi

Tawau Kukup Johor Bahru

76.10 75.80 75.16 76.18 76.15 74.97 76.07 76.61 76.39 75.83 77.61 76.91 76.15

60.01 63.73 60.95 57.44 57.52 61.54 57.26 57.78 59.69 61.63 60.66 58.48 59.81

64.45 63.70 65.62 61.67 61.08 66.44 62.87 62.63 66.38 62.67 63.07 64.05 63.68

76.41 74.53 74.53 75.10 75.88 76.91 76.01 74.40 74.01 74.19 75.24 76.96 75.35

65.86 66.84 66.58 65.11 63.35 67.25 67.94 64.85 63.67 63.71 62.24 65.58 65.67

62.95 61.00 60.57 62.10 63.65 64.31 62.89 62.74 63.64 65.77 65.89 64.50 63.33

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6. Challenges to renewable energy The policies formulated on RE are not cohesive and all-inclusive. The national utility representing the GoM and potential investors have divergent interests. This is because potential investors in RE are interested in an acceptable level of profit whilst national utility is concerned with the subsidy it has to carry in order to support the GoM's fuel diversity policy. Therefore, poor pricing between potential investors and national utility has made the RE developers to be not so keen in investing in RE power projects. Additionally, the fuel suppliers are not committed to having a long-term agreement with the RE projects developers, which may affect the reliability of fuel supply. There are uncertainties in the actual quantity and quality of fuel (waste/empty fruit bunches) from the mills. There are lots of non-energy companies that make use of biomass products such as medium-density fibreboard, pulp and paper, mulching, composite for fertilizer, etc., which will compete with the raw materials (fuel) available for biomass generation. Another barrier is lack of advanced technology for RE generation and lack of awareness on the benefits of RE resources [24]. The Center for Education and Training in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Malaysia should counter these issues by increasing the level of knowledge and awareness in Malaysian education. The concept of RE and EE could be introduced into the curricular activities in secondary schools and universities. The major problems associated with RE generation are lack of expertise regarding efficient practices and equipment handling, inefficient energy management and available technology. There are uncertainties in some technologies that are considered to be unsuitable [67]. The high cost of energy generation, both in terms of investment cost and final energy costs compared to conventional energy, further restrain efforts to promote the utilization of RE. Difficulties in securing finance are also a major challenge for RE developers because the Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement (REPPA) does not provide a robust enough cash flow for Bankers to be comfortable with. Some of the conditions imposed do not provide the confidence for Bankers to make a needed investment. Therefore, the Government needs to establish an effective and sustainable funding mechanism for RE projects. Long negotiation periods before the sign-up of the agreement pose a serious challenge as well. The developers of the RE projects are generally from small companies with limited resources. The enthusiasm for the projects is based on the capability to fund the development at minimal cost compared to the enormous Independent Power Producers (IPP) projects. Nonetheless, the transaction of RE project is not any different from the IPPs with the similar processes involved to arrive at a ‘bankable’ project. Therefore, the longer the transaction takes place, the more expenses the development will incur. If the said company does not have staying power, it will simply abandon such an initiative.

Table 10 Power availability at 4 sites around Malaysia, using Tidal stream [65]. Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Average

Total monthly availability in percentage (%)

7. Recommendations

Kelang

Melaka

Pulau Pangkor

Sandakam

16.73 20.31 21.71 20.68 17.05 13.38 17.34 23.26 23.84 20.78 15.17 13.24 18.62

41.81 42.75 44.56 43.90 42.06 40.97 43.34 45.60 45.28 44.71 43.53 41.33 43.32

56.24 54.75 55.67 55.74 57.41 57.29 57.29 58.12 57.03 56.90 58.87 58.79 57.01

78.48 77.74 81.17 80.23 79.95 78.80 79.28 80.85 81.48 81.45 80.31 80.61 80.03

Energy is an important factor in nation building and it should be well managed. Tremendous efforts must be made to ensure development of its sustainability via efficient energy usage, reduction of energy wastage among key energy sectors as well as encouraging the utilization of RE as an alternative energy source. The government should take into consideration the cumulative impact on the manufacturing industry and foreign investments of tariff revision as well as the Goods and Services Tax that will take effect in 2015, and the 1% levy on electricity bills when it comes to financing RE development projects. Furthermore, the government should ensure that the revised tariff does not result in excessive profits being accumulated by electricity suppliers. In this regard,

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the government should conduct public hearings that will allow the performance of electricity suppliers to be scrutinized. Also, in order to convince the public, the government will have to cease sustaining the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) with generous Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), but instead allow them to compete through an open bidding process that will ultimately benefit consumers. Energy efficiency programmes also need to be reviewed so that firms and households are encouraged or compelled to adopt energy efficiency measures. It is widely known that Malaysia‘s size of subsidies in 2012 was very large [3]; amounting to a total of RM42.4 billion. The allocation for 2013 is RM37.6 billion, of which RM20  25 billion is for fuels, with subsidies on gas for power generation amounting to RM16 billion. It is recommended that a reasonable amount of money be allocated for subsidy on RE as well. With the increasing demand for power and the fluctuating prices of fossil fuels, the GoM is encouraged to rely on RE sources, which are far more sustainable in the long run. Stand-alone electricity generation from RE can be used to promote rural electrification in the area where the cost of distribution, associated transmission loss, and grid power supply in rural areas are not economically viable.

8. Conclusion The problem of global warming and exhaustion of fossil fuel have fostered the increased usage of less environmental-polluting renewable energy sources closer to load demands in the distribution system. This has forced the Malaysian Government to rethink strategies to be more in line with other developed countries including the decision to position renewable energy resources as a better source of energy in the global energy mix. This paper presents the potential of RE in Malaysia and the GoM‘s frantic efforts to make the policies, RE programmes and incentives more effective so as to promote and develop the use of RE. The prospect and vision of RE is tremendously bright in Malaysia if all stakeholders cooperate and collaborate synergistically to make the vision a reality. With the implementation of the FiT system, by 2015, RE in Malaysia will make up 7% of the fuel mix, rising to 17% by 2020. Malaysia has abundant fossil fuel but they are fast depleting. The integration of RE has been encouraging and consistent because of government involvement in formulating polices and initiatives, but the current RE resources are not enough. Therefore, exploration into other RE sources such as wind, tidal and biofuel/biodiesel needs to be done to meet future energy demands. For sustainable energy and economic development, the government has to look into the challenges that hinder the full implementation of RE. They must vigorously pursue the implementation accordingly in order to achieve a greener environment and a more sustainable development, which will ultimately lead to the certainty of a green economy and freedom from environmental degradation. Effective policies and attractive incentives such as effective pricing policy and an enabling environment will lead to a sustainable market and encourage generation of RE in Malaysia. Further investigation into geothermal and hybrid wind turbine-PV generation using low wind speed turbine and PV modules is highly recommended. Renewable energy is the best alternative in providing electricity for those living in rural areas that are far from utility grids or in places where extending the utility grid is impossible. The potentials of off-grid electricity that use biomass, hydro power and solar energy are such that it could provide the opportunity to expand the capacity of rural electrification with distinct advantages for

rural dwellers, thus proving that RE is a cost-effective strategy and reliable source of energy.

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