KUALA LUMPUR: Renewable energy (RE) supply in Malaysia is now at 25 per cent, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the country was on the right track to source 31 per cent of its power capacity from renewables by 2025 and 40 per cent by 2035.
"We will step up efforts to encourage use of solar power usage. All this while, we're mostly looking at large-scale solar (power plant).
"However, some countries including Australia now see rooftop solar (usage) superseding large-scale solar. This (small-scale RE scheme) is one the initiatives that we're looking at in our efforts to expedite the country's energy transition," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Wong Shu Qi (PH-Kluang).
Meanwhile, Nazmi said the government was still reviewing proposal to lift export ban on RE.
"The ban is still in force, but there were requests to review this, including from Sarawak (that wishes) to export RE
"If we ever change the RE export policy, it must be done on our terms, Malaysia's terms. When we export - like any other trades - it will allow us to scale up RE," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru).
Citing electricity tariff, Nazmi said the country's existing RE sector had its own challenges in developing further as it was restricted by subsidies, while some countries such as Singapore had been following the market prices.
"On the other hand, technologies such as battery storage remained expensive, making it unattractive (to sector and consumers).
"If we lift the RE export ban, we may sell it (the RE supply) partly and the remainder will be channelled to the industry," said Nazmi.