KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Renewable energy (RE) set to be sold to Singapore from this month is the country’s currently unused surplus green electricity.
Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said the government is encouraging more companies in the country to switch to green electricity.
“The RE that we generate is in surplus and we are encouraging more firms that want to meet environmental, social and governance practices to choose green energy,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PN-Kubang Kerian) on concerns about the RE sales to Singapore and the increase in demand from domestic data centres that may compromise Malaysia’s ability to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Akmal Nasrullah said the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (Petra) is committed to increasing the mix of RE capacity in the country’s electricity supply from 28 per cent to 31 per cent by 2025, 40 per cent by 2035, and 70 per cent by 2050.
He said the gradual and planned increase in RE capacity was a preparatory step by Petra and the Energy Commission to meet the demand for green electricity required by data centres, in addition to being one of the conditions to encourage new high-value investments into the country.
“The existing RE programme will continue with improvements in addition to introducing new RE programmes to increase the mix of RE in the country’s electricity supply,” he said.
Akmal Nasrullah added that to enable corporate firms easier access to green electricity directly from RE generators, the government has introduced the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme programme.
The programme, he said, allows corporate firms, including data centres, to access green electricity directly from RE generators through the utility grid network.
He was responding to Tuan Ibrahim’s original question about the readiness of the country’s public and private energy supply ecosystem to supply green energy to data centres.
— Bernama
