Impact of Feed in Tariff (FiT) on RE Power Generation 22 April 2014 Residence Hotel Uniten Ir Dr Ali Askar Sher Mohamad COO SEDA Malaysia

Contents History of RE in Malaysia The FiT Status today Blockers and enablers of RE

Renewable Energy Development in Malaysia 3 8 TH Malaysia Plan ( ) RE as the 5th Fuel Implied 5% RE in energy mix 9 th Malaysia Plan (2006 – 2010) Targeted RE capacity to be connected to power utility grid: 300 MW – Peninsular Malaysia; 50 MW - Sabah Targeted power generation mix: 54.2% natural gas, 40.2% coal, 5.2% hydro, 0.2% oil, 0.2% Renewable Energy Carbon intensity reduction target: 40% lower than 2005 levels by 2020 RE as of 31 st December 2010 Connected to the utility grid: 61.2 MW (17.5% from 9 th MP target) Off-grid: >1GW (private palm oil millers and solar hybrid)

Malaysian RE Plan National Renewable Energy Policy & Action Plan Original National Renewable Energy Policy & Action Plan YearCumulative RE Capacity RE Power Mix (vs Peak Demand) MW5.5%-6% 20202,080 MW11% 20304,000 MW17%

 A mechanism that allows electricity that is produced from indigenous RE resources to be sold to power utilities at a fixed premium price and for specific duration.  FiT is guaranteed via the RE Act, whereby:  Access to the grid is guaranteed  utilities legally obliged to accept all electricity generated by RE private producers  FiT rates  high enough to produce ROI + reasonable profit (not excessive) to act as an incentive  fixed for a period (typically 16 or 21 years) to give certainty & provide businesses with clear investment environment  Adequate FiT rate "degression" to promote cost reduction and achieve “grid parity”  Adequate fund is created to pay for the FiT rates & guarantee the payment for the whole FiT contract period  Provides a conducive and secured investment environment  Provides fixed revenue stream for installed system  Only pays for electricity produced: promotes system owner to install good quality and maintain the system 5 The Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Mechanism

STATUS BIOGASBIOMASSSMALL HYDROSOLAR PVAll No of Application PENDING REFUSED REVOKED WITHDRAWAL APPROVED FiTCD All Status Today (31 March 2014)

Status Today With 1 % contribution to RE Fund, at 31 March 2014 Total approved capacity = 477 MW Commissioned capacity = 185 MW STATUS BIOGASBIOMASSSMALL HYDROSOLAR PVAll Total Installed Capacity PENDING REFUSED REVOKED WITHDRAWN APPROVED COMMISSIONED TOTAL

Lessons learned from FiT implementation Lesson 1 RE Fund contribution of 1 % (about RM 300M annually) is not enough! Very limited quota Government finally increased the contribution to 1.6 % from 1 st Jan 2014 This translates to about RM 600 M annually (due to increased tariffs) With this increase, and also revision of displaced cost (dc), tentative new quota release from is about another 1100 MW, which includes approximately: 170 MW biogas 240 MW biomass 60 MW MSW 400 MW small hydro 200 MW PV 30 MW geothermal

LESSON 2 FiT rates need to be carefully studied and balanced Obviously high rates for solar PV Rates in 2012: (i) up to and including 4kW (ii) above 4kW and up to and including 24kW (iii) above 24kW and up to and including 72kW (iv) above 72kW and up to and including 1MW (v) above 1MW and up to and including 10MW (vi) above 10MW and up to and including 30MW (i) use as installation in buildings or building structures (ii) use as building materials (iii) use of locally manufactured or assembled solar PV modules (iv) use of locally manufactured or assembled solar inverters

Compare with biogas and biomass (i) up to and including 4MW (ii) above 4MW and up to and including 10MW (iii) above 10MW and up to and including 30MW (i) use of gas engine technology with electrical efficiency of above 40% (ii) use of locally manufactured or assembled gas engine technology (i) up to and including 10MW (ii) above 10MW and up to and including 20MW (iii) above 20MW and up to and including 30MW (i) use of gasification technology (ii) use of steam-based electricity generating systems with overall efficiency of above 14% (iii) use of locally manufactured or assembled boiler or gasifier

Action from Lesson 2 PV Rates In 2013, PV rates were degressed by 20 % for commercial plants while rates for individual applications were degressed by 8 % In 2014, PV rates for all categories have been degressed by another 10 % In 2015, PV rates will probably be degressed by an additional 10 % Biogas and biomass rates FiT rates and bonuses of biogas and biomass plants were subject to degression of 0.5 % and 1.5 % in 2013 Degression rates for these plants have been set to 0 % starting from 2014 Agri and animal waste (including POME) biogas plants are now qualified to get the landfill gas bonus (now 7.7 sen/kWh) Bonus for local manufacture or local assembly of boilers and gas engines has been raised to 5 sen/kWh from 1 sen/kWh From Industry feedback, and PSS applications submitted to TNB/SESB, there is a huge interest in biogas and biomass today

LESSON 3 Even with better FiT rates, development of RE plants can be affected by Grid connection problems PV plants are normally on factory/warehouse rooftop where grid connection is simple due to onsite substation and sufficient load Most biomass, biogas, and especially small hydro plants are located in remote areas where the Grid (i.e. medium voltage network) is either non existent, weak, or does not have sufficient local load to accept the RE generator Although RE Act guarantees grid connection, but the interconnection facilities are the responsibility of the RE generator If point of connection is too far, the costs and unit losses are too high to be economically viable

Action from Lesson 3 Negotiate with utility to allow: Connection of a cluster of RE plants to the Transmission network Each individual plant may be too small to warrant connection to Transmission voltage but in a cluster, they can add up to 30 MW or more Already agreed, and can proceed Suitable for small hydro plants, and some remote biomass plants Flow of power from Distribution network to Transmission network when there is not enough local load Still in negotiations with utilities May require all RE generators connected to medium voltage to provide SCADA facilities to convince the utilities Set up Grid Interconnection Committee (GIC) chaired by SEDA, with the Energy Commission (EC) as Secretariat, and members comprising TNB, SESB, and NUR GIC to discuss all issues relating to Grid connection and bring the proposal to Distribution Code Committee (DCC) or Grid Code Committee (GCC) under EC for approval and implementation

The Way Forward FiT is not meant to be permanent but only to kick start the RE Industry New applications for FiT are proposed to end 2017 for solar PV 2020 for small hydro 2025 for biogas and biomass Last FiT payment in 2041 As fossil fuel power generation costs rise, and RE technology matures, Grid Parity will be achieved one by one for each technology Small hydro already at grid parity (23 sen/kWh or 24 sen /kWh compared to dc of 23.8sen/kWh) Non PV technologies can afford to sell to the utility at dc, especially if the real dc is determined Small PV can be installed under Net Energy Metering (NEM) while utility scale plants can be built through existing power plant bidding exercises An alternative Legal Instrument is needed to ensure the utilities buy from the RE generators at dc and accept NEM because the existing RE Act only implements the FiT.

Conclusion Malaysia went into the FiT after studying its implementation in other countries Although we have weaknesses, but we managed to avoid many of the pitfalls experienced by others Some countries almost went bankrupt and had to cancel the FiT since there was no quota system Within 2 years we managed to increase the grid-connected RE from 61 MW to 185 MW By 2020, we’ll have a minimum of 1000 MW or more under the FiT The FiT can only go so far New Legal Instruments are needed as we approach grid parity