PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION OF MASDAR-MIDA RE PROJECT BASED ON COMMERCIAL ARRANGEMENT - FADILLAH

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- The planning and implementation of a 10 gigawatts (GW) renewable energy (RE) project signed by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and the United Arab Emirates company Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co PJSC (Masdar) is a commercial arrangement between the two entities.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said that in this regard, the planning and implementation of the project's joint venture will be determined by both relevant parties.

“However, the government adheres to the policy that approval for the development of RE projects in this country must be carried out transparently, fairly and based on current regulatory provisions.

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“Therefore, Masdar’s investment, like other RE development companies in the country, needs to be done through participation in the existing RE programmes that are being and will be implemented," he said.

According to him, existing RE programmes include the Large Scale Solar (LSS) Programme for utility-scale solar development; Feed-in Tariff Programme for the development of non-solar resources; New Enhanced Dispatch Arrangement Programme for the development of non-solar resources; and Rooftop Solar Programme for solar installation on the roof of building premises.

Fadillah was replying to an oral question from Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) regarding the implementation of the collaboration and the party responsible for the 'off take' of RE in Dewan Rakyat.

At the same time, Fadillah said the government planned and drafted the implementation of third party access (TPA) to enable developers to supply RE directly to consumers by using the grid infrastructure of utility companies.

Therefore, according to him, the RE offtaker for the investor company will be determined based on the type of RE programme that the company participates in.

"For example, if a company participates in the LSS programme, then the energy offtaker is the utility or Tenaga Nasional Bhd (while) if an investor participates in the rooftop solar programme, then the energy offtaker under this programme is the electricity user himself.

"If the company participates in the TPA programme in the future, then the corporate user who has a contractual relationship with the developer will be an offtaker for the RE generated," he explained.

Overall, he said the entry of new capacity by Masdar and other RE developer companies should be based on the planning and development of electricity supply generation agreed by the government and carefully refined taking into account all economic, technical and regulatory aspects.

Fadillah said this approach will ensure the introduction of intermittent solar sources will not affect the capacity and safety of the grid system and infrastructure, provide fair and equitable opportunities and competition while safeguarding the interests of local RE industry players.

"It is also to ensure that the supply of electricity including from RE sources is at a competitive and reasonable rate to all electricity users," he added.

-- BERNAMA