Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Malaysia energy strategy towards sustainability: A panoramic

overview of the benets and challenges
Nor Afah Basri n, Ahmad Termizi Ramli, Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 23 March 2014
Received in revised form
23 September 2014
Accepted 19 October 2014
Available online 15 November 2014

Sustainable energy supply is essential for actualizing Malaysia's vision to become a high-income country.
The current power production and demand trends show that Malaysia has a reserve margin that will
only last for the next few years. This calls for further investment, research and development in the
country's power sector in order to meet the ever increasing energy demand. The government's
diversication policy and power sector expansion plan emphasizes on the incorporation of renewable
energy sources (RESs) and other less CO2 emitting sources like nuclear into the national energy mix.
However, the environmental ramications of this policy should be part of any future expansion plan of
national grid. This paper presents a panoramic overview of the Malaysian energy sector, the energy
policy revolution and the power sector expansion strategy towards secure sustainability. We want to
bring into focus the benets and challenges of Malaysia's power sector expansion plan with the aim of
stimulating further discussion and research on the environmental ramications of the plan.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Malaysia electricity sector
Energy outlook
Power expansion plan
Diversication policy

Contents
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
Malaysia energy mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
2.1.
Natural gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
2.2.
Coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
2.3.
Hydropower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
2.4.
Fuel oil and diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
2.5.
Renewable energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
Revolution of Malaysia's energy policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
3.1.
National energy policy (19752009). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
3.2.
New energy policy (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
Energy scenario in Peninsular Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
4.1.
Electricity supply and generation capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
4.2.
Electricity consumption trending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
4.3.
Long term energy mix forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
4.4.
Expansion plan in power sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
Renewable resources for greener energy production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
5.1.
Potential RE source for commercial use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.1.1.
Solar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.1.2.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.1.3.
Biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.1.4.
Mini hydro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.2.
ASEAN-5 renewable energy scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
5.3.
Progress of renewable energy programs (20112013) in Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Nuclear as new potential source for future power expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103

Tel.: 60 196423633.
E-mail address: afahbasri@gmail.com (N.A. Basri).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.056
1364-0321/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

1095

7. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104

2. Malaysia energy mix

From 2010 to 2012, the total primary energy supply in Malaysia
has increased by 8.49% from 76,809 ktoe to 83,939 ktoe respectively. The total nal energy demand has increased by 11.21% from
41,476 ktoe to 46,710 ktoe in the same years [6,15,16].
Malaysia's total installed electricity generation capacity was
24,361 MW in 2010 and 29,143 MW in 2012. The total electricity
generation has increased by 19.50% from 108,175 GWh to
134,375 GWh from 2010 to 2012, while electricity consumption
has increased by 10.17% from 104,521 GWh to 116,354 GWh in the
same duration [15,16].

Electricity Production from RE Sources

12000
10000
8000
6000

MY
SG

4000

TH

2000
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

Malaysia is one of the fast growing economies in South-East

Asia. The country's economic development is partially driven by
government's policy on industrialization which welcomes both
local and foreign investments. As one of the rapidly developing
countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is committed to becoming a
developed nation by the year 2020. To realize this vision, economic
growth was propelled from being an agricultural and commoditybased to manufacturing and service-based [1].
In the last two decades, Malaysia's gross domestic product
(GDP) grew steadily at an average of 5.8% per year from 1990 until
2011 [2]. Between the years, Ong et al. [2] note that sluggish
economy growth were experienced in 1998, 2001 and 2009 and
the slow growth in economy has been noted to be due to the
following factors; Asian Financial Crisis, slow growth in export
demand for electronic products and the economic downturn from
the slow growth in manufacturing industry [14].
Human development and economic growth are the key drivers
of global energy demand. Conversely, diverse, reliable, affordable
and sustainable energy sources are needed as foundation to
enhance the economic and societal advancements [5,6]. Since
energy demand is expected to grow proportionally with GDP
and economic growth, Malaysia has to prepare strategies to ensure
sustainable and affordable power supply in the future.
Fossil-based energy sources; in particular coal and natural gas
has been the major contributing fuels for the power sector in
Malaysia. The challenging issue is how to achieve sustainability, i.e.
to ensure the security and reliability of energy supply; while
taking the environmental consequences of energy production into
account. Globally, the power sector has been a major contributor
of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and this has been noted to be
due to the dependence of most electricity generating plants on
coal and oil [7]. In Malaysia for instance, the power sector is
expected to depend more on imported coal in order to meet it's
rising energy demand and this has been predicted to result in a
situation where the carbon emission prole will be tripled by 2030
compared to its magnitude in 2004 [8].
In order to reduce Malaysia's overdependence on fossil fuels
and maintain stability in power supply, various diversication
programs and policies were introduced. Four-fuel Diversication
Strategy was introduced in 1981 as an extension of the 1979
National Energy Policy to decrease dependency on oil. Subsequently, the Five-fuel Diversication Strategy was introduced in
1999 [1] and renewable energy (RE) was made the fth fuel in the
energy supply mix through the fth fuel policy under the Eighth
Malaysia Plan (20012005) [9]. The electricity production from
renewable energy sources (REs) in Malaysia has been improving in
the last two decades as depicted in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 compares the total electricity production from REs
between three southeast Asian countries (namely, Malaysia (MY),
Singapore (SG) and Thailand (TH)). In 2009, the electricity production from REs in Malaysia was about 8400 kWh, which is twice the
value in 1990 [10].
Apart from diversication plan, the government have facilitated a
more pragmatic and environment-friendly policy under the tenth
Malaysia plan [11]. The tenth Malaysia plan (20112015) emphasizes
national commitment towards green technology by aiding research

institutions' activities on green technology towards commercialization through appropriate mechanisms [9,12].
Malaysia is a one of the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol; and
the country has been working towards a low carbon economy and
community with the aim of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs)
emissions and ultimately the effects of global warming [13].
Malaysia's Prime Minister pledged to reduce 40% of the country's
CO2 emissions intensity per unit GDP by 2020 against a 2005
baseline to show Malaysia's commitment towards greener energy
at the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention
in Denmark [14]. This pledge needs a lot of commitments in the
part of the government, especially when one considers the quest
of industrialization which is almost totally energy depended.
This paper presents an overview of the Malaysia energy sector,
the energy policy revolution and the power sector expansion
strategy towards secure sustainability. The aim of this paper is to
bring into focus some of the challenging issues of Malaysia's
power sector expansion plan which aims at reliability, sustainability and security of energy supply in order to stimulate further
discussion and research on the subject matter. The contradiction
between the realization of Malaysia's targets of low carbon
community and its power expansion strategies is highlighted.
Recommendations are provided on how to resolve this difference
and on the ways to strive towards greener energy mix which is the
sole goal of the tenth Malaysia plan.

million kWh

1. Introduction

Year

Fig. 1. Electricity production from REs in MY, TH and SG [10].

1096

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

Natural gas, coal and hydro are the primary fuels for power
generation. The contribution of individual fuel source for electricity generation in 2012 was as follows; coal for 48.3%, followed by
natural gas accounted for 39.4%, hydropower for 7.4%, diesel and
fuel oil for 4.7% and RE at 0.2% (See Fig. 2) [6,15,16].
2.1. Natural gas
Natural gas was discovered in the year 1983; Malaysia natural
gas proven reserve stands at 58 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2006 [17],
88 Tcf in 2008 [13] and 83 Tcf in 2010 [18]. The reserves are mainly

found offshore east Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and some

location in the east Coast of Peninsular Malaysia [18]. Management
of natural gas resources was the responsibility of Petroliam
Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), who manages the exports and
distribution to national sectors including power sector [19]. The,
natural gas supply comes from Kerteh, Terengganu and Malaysia
Thailand joint development area through the Peninsula gas
utilization (PGU) pipelines (Fig. 3). The PGU pipeline is one of
the most extensive natural gas pipelines in Asia. It spans more
than 880 miles with capacity to transport 2 billion cubic feet every
day [13]. The PGU pipeline initiative helped to expand regional

Fig. 2. Energy input in power station 2012 [16].

Fig. 3. Natural gas supply network in Malaysia [22].

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

natural gas trade, especially with neighboring countries like Thailand,

Singapore and Indonesia [20].
Natural gas reserves in Malaysia are the second largest in South
East Asia and the 12th largest in the world [17,21]. A study in 2010
indicates that the natural gas could contribute as the main source
of energy in Malaysia's energy mix for the next 36 years [13].
However, in the 2010 report of the Economic Transformation
Program and PETRONAS indicated that oil and gas reserve will
deplete at the rate of 4% annually and will decrease faster after 10
years [19]. Hence, depending on national gas reserve is deemed
not practical in future power expansion plans, unless additional
supply is imported to meet the ever increasing demand. Malaysia
commenced the importation of natural gas fro Indonesia and
Thailand in the years 2002 and 2005, respectively [18].
Peninsular Malaysia has 18 gas-red power plants with combined capacity of 12,888 MW which accounts for 58% of the power
production in the energy mix [1,18]. The power sector is the major
consumer of natural gas, as its account for half of the total
consumption. The consumption of natural gas has been on the
increases from 1990 to 2008 even after implementation of Five
Fuel Diversication Strategy in 2001 [22,23]. However, development of new technologies and robust diversication strategies
could lead to reduction in the dependence on natural gas by the
power sector and this will help to meet and balance other
demands [19,24].
2.2. Coal
Globally, coal provides around 30% of primary energy needs
and generates 41% of the world's electricity. In Peninsular Malaysia, coal is fully imported from countries such as Indonesia,
Australia, South Africa and China for power generation
[13,14,17]. Malaysia has signicantly large coal reserves, but most
of them are found in inland areas which have inadequate infrastructure and high extraction cost. Most reserves are found in
Sabah (29%) and Sarawak (69%), and only 2% in Peninsular [18].
The percentage contribution of coal in electricity generation has
increased from 9.7% (in 1995) to 48.3% (in 2012) [16,24]. The increase
depicts the result of reducing dependence on natural gas for electricity
generation and the starting new coal red power stations by the
independent power producers (IPPs) [1,25]. Coal import is expected to
increase in response to the governmental policy of intensifying its use
for power generation [8]. At the moment, coal consumption stands at
around 20 million ton every year and the consumption is expected to
increase to more than 25 million ton annually after the commissioning
of new coal plants in Manjung and Tanjung Bin [1,14].
The major concern regarding coal is the ability to maintain the
imported supplies as it exposes Malaysia to interruption in supply
and increases in cost of coal. Although coal is the cheapest and most
abundant fossil source, the price and supply is fully controlled by
suppliers, depending on the global demand which increases each
year. Malaysia has to compete with major coal consumers such as
China, USA and most recently Japan, who switched to non-nuclear
power after Fukushima nuclear accident. In addition, the increasing
threat of anthropogenic global warming has caused policy makers to
begin to consider moving towards an agreement that would charge
power plants for CO2 emission and if this happens, the days of cheap
electricity from coal will be gone [26]. Since uncontrollable supply
may have negative effects on the national power security, efforts
have been made to explore and develop local coal mines in Sarawak
in addition to the imported supplies [18,21].
2.3. Hydropower
In Malaysia, hydropower is the only REs that commercially
contribute to the national energy mix. The rst major dam

1097

(Chenderoh Dam) was constructed in 1939, followed by Sultan

Abu Bakar Dam in 1963. After the oil crisis of 1970s, more dams
were constructed and this action eventually puts hydroelectric
into the main energy mix of Malaysia [27]. The combined installed
capacity of hydro in Peninsular Malaysia is 1911 MW from 4 hydroelectric plants. The share of hydropower in the energy mix was
10% in 2000 and it declined to 5.6% in 2010 [18]. The completion of the
Bakun Dam in Sarawak which has an installed capacity of 2400 MW
has increased the share of hydro to 9% in 2012 [1]. The Bakun
hydropower was planned to be connected to grid in the Peninsular
by Sarawak Interconnection Project via undersea cables [28].
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) plans to increase the hydroelectric power capacity from its current capacity by 2020. The
2009 production capacity of hydro was 4000 MW [29]. However,
construction of new hydropower plant is overwhelmingly complex
and initial capital intensive, some of the other issues that are
associated with hydroconstruction are the social, environmental
and political ramications [17,21]. A relevant suggestion is to
increase the output capacity via upgrades of existing turbine units
that almost reach their life time expectancy. The upgrade will be
commenced along with overhaul progress to the plants [1].
It is expected that in the long term, hydropower will contribute
immensely to Malaysia's energy sector. Some of the advantages of
new hydroplant appear to are its socioeconomic impacts as ood
control, irrigation farming, rural electrication and social infrastructure such as roads and provision of employment to the local
people [17,21].
2.4. Fuel oil and diesel
Contribution of oil in Malaysia energy mix was once up to 87.9%
before the international oil crisis in 1973 and 1979, and the
implementation of Four-fuel Diversication Strategy in 1981 [25].
Majority of Malaysia oil reserves are in the east coast of Peninsular
Malaysia, where high quality oil is found. Malaysia's oil production
started to decline signicantly in 2006 even though several new
oil elds have come online during last few years [25]. The
contribution of oil in the energy mix was declined sharply to
merely 10% in 2003 [22] and is only around 3% in 2011. Apart from
using oil for power generation, it is exported as crude oil or as
downstream petroleum products [19,6].
2.5. Renewable energy
Malaysia is blessed with abundant RE resources such as
biomass/biogas from oil palm wastes, mini hydro, solar and
municipal solid wastes [30]. Table 1 summarizes the estimated
RE potential in the long run [13].
RE was added as the fth source of energy when the Five-fuel
Diversication Strategy replaced the Four-fuel Diversication
Strategy in 2002, with the target of providing 5.5% of power
generation in the energy mix by 2010 through Small Renewable
Energy Power (SREP) Program [18]. However, the development is
rather slow, with end result of only 1% of the total energy mix
being renewable [13,30].
Table 1
Renewable energy potential in Malaysia [13].
Source: Malaysia Energy Center's National Energy Balance.
Renewable energy

Potential (MW)

Mini-hydro
Biomass/biogas (oil palm mill waste)
Municipal solid waste (MSW)
Solar PV

500
1300
400
6500

1098

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

Fig. 4. Malaysia energy policy development.

Currently, installed RE capacity stands at less than 1% of total

electricity generation in Malaysia. Even though the development
of RE is still in early stage, it is estimated that utilizing 5% of the
energy mix for RE will save up to 5 billion Malaysian Ringgit over a
period of 5 years [31].

energy policy as a further step to encapsulate all efforts to ensure

economic efciency, security of energy supply and to meet the
social and environmental objectives in National Energy Policy of
1979 [1,12]. New Energy Policy 2010 identied ve strategic pillars
for providing the primary areas of focus to achieve the National
Energy Policy objectives. The ve strategic pillars and their
purpose are as follows [1]:

3. Revolution of Malaysia's energy policies

a. Energy pricing Rationalizing energy pricing gradually to

match market price, by taking into account current economic
condition and affordability to the citizen.
b. Strategic supply side developments Undertaking a more
strategic development of energy supply by diversifying energy
resources, including renewable energy resources. Nuclear
energy will also be considered as an alternative source of
energy.
c. End use energy efciency Accelerating the implementation of
energy efciency initiatives in the industrial, residential and
transport sectors.
d. Energy governance and regulation Improving governance to
support the transition to market pricing, while providing
assistance to mitigate impact on the low income group.
e. Management of change and affordability Ensuring that the
New Energy Policy is implemented based on an integrated
approach and according to schedule to achieve energy supply
security.

A positive progress in energy sector is partly contributed by the

improvement in energy policy and elaborate future plans by
energy commission and energy suppliers. Malaysia's energy policies have evolved over the years since the 1973 world oil crisis. The
policies guide the energy-related activities in Malaysia as illustrated in Fig. 4 [1].
3.1. National energy policy (19752009)
Implementation of energy policy in Malaysia starts with
National Petroleum Policy of 1975 as subsequent to the Petroleum
Development Act in 1974. The policy regulated oil and gas industry
as major factor to accelerate economic development. In 1979,
National Energy Policy was introduced with 3 principal objectives;
the supply objective, the utilization objective and the environmental
objective. These objectives served as guidance in the formulation of
Malaysia's ve-year development plan. The main purpose is to
ensure the availability of the energy supply with reasonable price
to support the nation's economy development [31].
National Depletion Policy (NDP) was introduced in 1980 to
manage oil exploration by controlling production in major oil
elds. The aim of the NDP was to prolong the lifespan of oil
reserves for future security and stability of oil supply [1]. The
policy was then extended to include natural gas reserves in 1996.
The gas and oil production were limited to certain amount per day
to control rapid depletion.
In 1981, the government of Malaysia designed Four-fuel Diversication Strategy to reduce overdependence on oil and ensure
energy reliability and security. The strategy aims for a balanced
energy supply mix of oil, gas, hydropower and coal, as well as
utilizing local resources to enhance security of supply. The result of
this policy lead to a signicant shift from oil to natural gas, as it is
seen as appropriate to compliment supply and environmental
objectives as spelled out in the National Energy Policy. The Fourfuel Diversication Strategy was further developed into Five-fuel
Diversication Strategy. Under the current strategy, renewable
energy resources were considered as the fth fuel for the energy
mix. Modalities on utilization of REs are presented in the National
Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan in 2009 [30,32].
3.2. New energy policy (2010)
The latest energy policy was implemented in 2010 under the
Tenth Malaysia Plan. The Tenth Malaysia Plan describes the new

The new policy also emphasizes on National Green Energy

Policy (NGEP), under which special consideration was included in
the RE development plan. Short term goals vested in NGEP are as
follows [9,33]:
1. Increased public awareness and commitment for the adoption
and application of green technology through advocacy
programs.
2. Widespread availability and recognition of green technology in
terms of products, appliances, equipment, and systems in the
local market through standards, rating and labeling programs.
3. Increased foreign and domestic direct investment in green
technology manufacturing and services sector.
4. Expansion of local research institutes and institutions of higher
learning to expand research, development and innovation
activities on green technology towards commercialization
through appropriate mechanisms New RE act and Feed-in Tariff
(FiT) mechanism to be launched.
5. New RE act and FiT mechanism to be launched.
4. Energy scenario in Peninsular Malaysia
Malaysia; being a growing industrious country, is expected to
have continuous rise in energy demand and with GDP growth
[21,34]. From total supply gures, most of power plants are located
in Peninsular Malaysia due to the higher population density and it

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

1099

Table 2
Projected GDP growth for year 20142030 [1].
Source: Energy Commission Report 2012.
Year

2014

2015

20162020

20212030

GDP (%)

5.7

5.8

5.9

6.2

Fig. 7. Forecasted generation mix (20132022) [19].

decrease in the reserve margin which was 41% in 2011 and 37.4% in
2012 [30]. This situation signals that a signicant decrease reserve
margin may occur in the future.
4.2. Electricity consumption trending

Fig. 5. Electricity production and peak demand.

Fig. 6. Electricity consumption by sector [16].

has high number of industrial areas than those in eastern Malaysia

(Sabah and Sarawak).
Sensitivity studies conducted by various creditable agencies
show that the GDP growth in Peninsular Malaysia is estimated to
be 5.5% in 2013 and expected to increase to 5.7% by 2014. The long
term GDP growth is estimated to be 5.9% per annum (p.a.) from
2016 until 2020 and then increase to 6.2% p.a. from 2021 until
2030 as shown in Table 2.
4.1. Electricity supply and generation capacity
The total installed capacity in Peninsular Malaysia was
24,242 MW in 2011 and 24,309 MW in 2012. The total electricity
consumption for 2011 and 2012 were 97,939 and 102,174 GWh
respectively. The maximum peaks of demand were 15,476 and
15,826 MW in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
As of 31st December 2012, the total installed capacity was
21,749 MW, while electricity gross generation was 117,797 GWh.
The highest peak demand was recorded on 20th June 2012, which
was 15,826 MW [1]. Fig. 5 depicts the Peninsular Malaysia's
electric production, peak demand and energy mix from 2010 to
2012. The total generation capacity is higher than the peak
demand for the three years under consideration (20102012), this
indicates that there is high reserve margin in the electricity sector.
A 3.6% increase demand in 2012 compared to 2011 resulted in

The electricity consumption pattern in Peninsular Malaysia for

2012 is presented in Fig. 6. The sectors with the highest consumption are the commercial, residential, agriculture and transport
sectors, in that order [1,16].
Historically, industrial sector contributed towards the largest
percentage in total electricity sales and has grown largely by
13% p.a. between 1980 and 2000 and 2.9% p.a. between 2000 and
2011. In terms of sectorial sales, industrial sales growed moderately at 3.9% in year 2013, and by 3.5% in year 2014. Commercial
sector sales is expected to grow at an average of 4.0% for the next
two years while domestic sales growth is anticipated to linger
around 3.9%. Based on the latest electricity demand performance
and current economic trends, an average electricity sales growth of
4.0% per annum (p.a) is forecasted for 20122015 period. The
electricity sales are forecasted to reach 129,482 GWh in the year
2020. The electricity generation and peak demand are both
projected to grow at the averages of 3.5% p.a. and 3.7% p.a.,
respectively during the above period [1].
4.3. Long term energy mix forecast
The long term load forecast, also known as demand forecast
plays a central role in the power system planning and generation
development plan. Usually, forecast load is up to 20 years ahead
and it's conducted on annual basis with mid-year revision, which
is in line with the License Condition and Malaysian Grid Code
[1,35].
As for the fuel types in the energy mix, gas usage is expected to
decrease due to the retirement of several gas plants, which is to
commence by 2016. It will further decrease in 2019 to 32%, where
coal will make up 64% of the overall mix and overtakes gas as
dominant fuel. The pattern of the mix shows that gas usage
decreases over time and will constitute only 27% of the overall
mix by the year 2022 [1].
Generation development plan studies are carried out from time
to time to continually evaluate the recommendation in planning
for future capacities. Established analytical tools are used extensively to carry out simulations to incorporate all important parameters such as fuel price, fuel mix, technology employed and
demand prole.
The forecasted generation mix for Peninsular Malaysia based
on the approved Generation Development Plan is shown in Fig. 7 [1].
Unstable electricity pricing was expected due to volatility of coal
price and supply [19], as well as the consideration to gradually
raise the gas price until it reaches the market price of RM44.36/
mmBtu [1]. The plan proposed a system interconnection with

1100

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

Table 3
Installed capacity by energy source type [1].
Source: Energy Commission Report 2012.

Table 5
Power extension projects.
Source: Energy Commission Report 2012.

Type

Fuel

Capacity (MW)

Projects

Fuel

Capacity (MW)

New expiry date

Conventional thermal
Combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT)
Conventional thermal
Open cycle gas turbine (OCGT)
Hydroelectric

Coal
Gas
Gas
Gas
Hydro
Total

7170
9373
840
2455
1911
21,749

S.J. Sultan Iskandar

Genting Sanyen
Segari Energy Ventures Sdn. Bhd

Gas
Gas
Gas

275
675
1303

2015
2015
2015

Table 4
New generation projects.
Source: Energy Commission Report 2012.
Projects

Fuel

Manjung IV
CBPS repowering
Hulu Terengganu
Hulu Terengganu
(Tembat)
Tg Bin energy
TNB Prai CCGT
Pengerang cogeneration
Additional Chenderoh
Tekai
Telom
Nenggiri

Coal
1010
Gas
343
Hydro 250
Hydro
15

2015
2015
2015
2016

Coal
Gas
Gas

1000
1071
400

2016
2016
2017

12
156
132
416

2018
2020
2022
2024

Hydro
Hydro
Hydro
Hydro

Installed capacity
(MW)

Commercial operation
date

Sarawak with the aim of ensuring balance fuel mix and stabilized
electricity price [20].
In order to have a balanced fuel mix, commencement of
Sarawak interconnection is targeted to begin by 2020 and this
may reult in less coal usage. The share of hydroelectricity in the
fuel mix is forecasted to be consistent at a growth rate of 4% due to
the addition of new plants with total capacity of 937 MW from
2015 to 2022.
Another plan is to consider nuclear as new source in the energy
mix as stated in the new energy policy. Nuclear energy is at
present the only energy technology with a secure base load
electricity supply and no GHG emissions that has the potential
to expand at a large-scale. However, since Fukushima nuclear
accident of Japan, nuclear energy has been under increased public
scrutiny. Germany has implemented a drastic transformation of
the position of nuclear energy in the country, a position which is
believed to have some political inuence as the post-Fukushima
German nuclear policy inuences election results [26,36].

4.4. Expansion plan in power sector

As of 31st December 2012, the installed capacity in Peninsular
Malaysia was 21,749 MW, primarily fueled by natural gas, coal and
supplemented by hydro (Table 3).
The expansion plans involve the expansion of existing power
plants, and consideration of new energy source via new construction. The expansion program is important to cater for imminent
capacities retirement and system growth. It is revised, evaluated
and recommended to the government on annual basis by an
approval committee called JPPPET [1].
There are currently 12 new plants under construction and
3 extension project scheduled to be connected to the grid between
2015 and 2024. The new and extension projects are listed in
Tables 4 and 5, respectively.

Fig. 8. Malaysia's CO2 emission (19802006) [26].

The new coal capacity will increase by 2 GW in 2017, while six

new hydro projects are expected to be connected to the national
grid by 2024. The combined installed capacity of hydro is 981 MW.
Data from Tables 4 and 5 show that natural gas and coal will
maintain their roles as the primary fuels that drive the Malaysia's
electricity sector. It is expected that the combined capacity (from
new and extended projects) will be over 4 GW by 2020. It is clear
that the government wants to further the development of conventional power plants whose fuels are readily available despites
its pledge to reduce carbon emission. However, the environmental
impacts of energy generation, power plants construction and
operation are enormous. The next section presents the environmental impacts of Malaysia's energy use and her effort towards
greener production.

5. Renewable resources for greener energy production

In 2008, the CO2 emission of Malaysia was about 118 million
tones and the per capita carbon emission was 7.2 tones [37]. Fig. 8
shows the CO2 emission of Malaysia in the last 26 years. The CO2
emission has been on the increase from the 1990s until now [24].
Until drastic majors are taken, the government of Malaysia may
not be able to cut down its carbon emission to the environment as
announced.
The total environmental impacts of electricity generation due
to CO2, SO2, and NOx emission from electricity generation in
Malaysia have been estimated by Ref. [38]. The pollution intensity
of CO2 is estimated to increase from 298, 339 kt in 1999 to 800,
519 kt by 2020. The CO2 pollution intensity will be tripled. For SO2,
the emission intensity is stable. It is has been estimated to increase
by 21% from 1999 (3159 kt) to 2020 (3840 kt). The SO2 emission
prole is expected to increase from 2445 kt (in 1999) to 18,316 kt
(in 2020). This shows that the environmental loading or global
warming potential of Malaysia's electricity generation technologies are enormous. There is the need to tap into clean energy
potentials of the country in order to achieve its target on reduction
of carbon emission.

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

The power sector of Malaysia is still very much dependent on

fossil fuels and with the ever-increasing energy demand, it is
inevitable that CO2 emission will continue to climb as long as fossil
fuels remain the main contributor in the country's energy mix [13].
Emphasis on green technology is promoted in the 9th Malaysia Plan
(20062010) and efforts on the utilization of RE resources and
efcient use of energy were further encouraged [1].
The establishment of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology
and Water to replace the Ministry of Energy, Communications and
Multimedia in early 2009 may reect Malaysia's commitment in
driving the message that clean and green is the way forward
towards creating an economy that is based on sustainable solutions [13]. Some of the progresses made in adding renewables into
Malaysia's energy mix are presented in the subsequent parts of
this paper.
5.1. Potential RE source for commercial use
In Malaysia, RE sources (other than hydro) are generated on
small scale basis and are mostly operated by independent power
production companies. Solar, mini hydropower and biomass are
untapped potential RE resources that could drive Malaysia's future
towards sustainable and greener energy.
5.1.1. Solar
Solar energy is harnessed through the conversion of sunlight
into electricity via solar cells in solar panel. This system is called
Photovoltaic (PV) system. An equatorial country such as Malaysia
is favorable for the development of solar energy because its
climate is generally hot all year long with approximately 4000
5000 Wh m  2 daily radiation, except for monsoon season during
the end of the year [18,3942]. Although PV system has high
potential for commercial use, the cost for PV panel and technologies is still high for mass power generation [17,19]. The cost of
solar electricity is 20 times higher than the conventional fuels.
At present, PV application is still restricted to rural electrication,
garden lighting, and water heating in hotels and upper-class
urban home.
The funding of research in the areas of solar energy by the
Malaysian Government has been quite encouraging. Research
groups at some of the ve research Universities in Malaysia have
been involved in solar energy research like inverters, PV concentration, solar cells fabrications and characterization, hybrid systems and energy conversion tracking systems. Some of the works
undertaken by researchers in local universities are
1. Development of grid-connected (3 kW) inverter by researchers
at Universiti Malaya (UM) [4346].
2. Development of solar cell by researchers at Universiti Sains
Malaysia (USM) [4749].
3. Development of (5 kW) grid-connected inverter, solar home
and solar car by researchers at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM) [5052].
4. Development of low-coast solar water heater by researchers at
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) [53].
An important issue that has slowed down the development of
solar energy in Malaysia is that there is only one buyer i.e., the
national utility company (TNB) and this has resulted in an unequal
bargaining position of utility and solar energy projects (and other
REs) [54]. An analysis of the way forward for solar PV in Malaysia
by Muhammad-Sukki et al. [55] found that Feed-In Tariff (FiT)
scheme has the potential to increase solar PV penetration and the
Green Technology Financing Scheme (GTFS) is potentially a good
source of funds for companies while for home owners, a soft loan

1101

facility with an interest rate of 5% is a possible source of funds for

nancing solar energy program.
In 2005, the Malaysian Building Integrated Photovoltaic Technology (MBIPV) project was launched with the primary target of
encouraging long term cost reduction. The Building Integrated
Photovoltaic (BIPV) panels are all integrated into building design
to provide electricity for building. It is also connected to the
national electricity grid to help feed peak power demand during
peak daylight hours. Until 2010, PV systems have contributed only
0.4 MW to the national grid. The unit cost of PV installations and
PV system has dropped by 16% in average since BIPV was
introduced [13]. Comparing the contribution of solar in the
national energy mix to the potential (Table 1), it is clear that
Malaysia still has a lot to do in terms of utilizing its solar potential.
However, solar energy is expected to surpass other RE sources by
2020 if the price continues to decrease and the technology
becomes more cost friendly for commercial use [30].
5.1.2. Municipal solid waste (MSW)
MSW in Malaysia involves the disposal of wastes to landlls.
The local authorities and waste management consortia handle
approximately 17,000 tones of MSW everyday throughout the
country. Biogas energy generation from MSW is an effective and
protable method for solid waste disposal. Jana Landll Gas (LFG)
power generation is the rst MSW power station connected to the
national grid. The 2 MW power plant is located at a landll area
(Air Hitam Sanitary Landll) and receives about 3000 tones of
daily domestic wastes from major parts of Klang Valley. Jana LFG
power plant is planned to be expanded due to its potential to
produce energy for a period of 20 years [56,57]. With rapid
population growth, it is estimated that the amount of MSW can
reach 9 million tons per year by 2020. From that gure, average
MSW generated on daily basis is 24,650 tones; which has the
potential to generate 500 MW of electricity [18,58].
5.1.3. Biomass
Biomass energy in Malaysia is generated from agricultural
waste product, such as oil palm waste, wood waste and paddy
residues. The palm oil industry contributes the largest amount of
biomass energy in Malaysia with total generation capacity of
211 MW in 2012. Oil palm has good potential in producing biomass
energy due its caloric contains. With 50% efciency, it can
generate 8 Mtoe of energy, and can save RM 7.5 billion per year
of crude oil [34,59]. At present, biogas energy is generated at the
oil palm mill for its own use [60,61]. Biomass and biogas plants
have estimated potential to achieve 1340 MW of power production
by 2030 and can be connected to national grid.
5.1.4. Mini hydro
Small scale hydro has become popular alternative compared to
bigger scale hydroproject because of their lower cost, reliability
and environmental friendliness. Since the late 1970s, many mini
hydroprojects have been undertaken based on run-of-the-river
systems ranging from 0.5 to 1 MW capacity [30]. As of 2012, there
are 39 units of mini hydro plants with total capacity of 16.186 MW
in Peninsular Malaysia [18]. The targeted installed capacity for
mini hydro is 490 MW by 2020 under the Malaysia renewable
energy development plan. Mini hydro has the prospect to reduce
the environmental loading of Malaysia's energy usage if its
potential is fully utilized.
5.2. ASEAN-5 renewable energy scenario
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is made up of
to 10 member countries located in South East Asia. ASEAN

1102

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

Table 7
RE achievement (2012 and 2013).
Source: Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia.
Achievement

Source

Year
2012

Installed capacities (MW)

Biogas
Biomass
Small hydro
Solar PV

5.16
52.3
11.7
31.57

6.58
0.0
0.0
56.77

Annual Power Generation (MWh)

Biogas
Biomass
Small hydro
Solar PV

7563.51
104,544.39
25,629.78
4707.17

18,517.43
309,352.56
73,032.12
4,5153.38

situation in ASEAN as a presentation of mixed bag because of

different stages in RE development in each country, down to the
individual RE sources available within each country. In 2012, Ipsos
reported that only Phillipines and Thailand has succeeded in fully
commercializing RE through geothermal and solar power respectively [65]. Malaysia has shown signicant achievement in its
Renewable Energy Program. The success of FiT program is
expected to help Malaysia achieve the target of fully commercializing most of its RE resources.

Fig. 9. Potential of RE in ASEAN-5 [65].

Table 6
Existing and targeting renewable energy capacity.
Phillipines

2013

Thailand

Indonesia

Malaysia

Vietnam

Existing capacity (MW)

Micro hydro 3400
Geothermal
1966
Wind
33
Biomass
38
Solar
1
Ocean

Waste

Biogas

56

6
1610
49

13
80

86
1189
1
445
14

24

7
479
0

0
0

121

1
150
1

2
2

Targeting capacity (MW)

Micro hydro 8724
Geothermal
3461
Wind
2378
Biomass
316
Solar
285
Ocean
71
Waste

Biogas

281

801
3003
932

184
170

500
9500
225
180
870

480

1325
4470

276
507

5700

6200
2000

countries are composed of two parts, namely, northern and

southern areas. The northern part includes Laos, Vietnam, and
Cambodia, whereas the southern part includes Thailand, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei [62].
Renewable Energy sources are abundantly available in most of
the member countries of ASEAN. Among the ASEAN countries,
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are blessed
with most of the types of renewable energy sources [63] such as
solar, hydropower, biogass/biomass and geothermal energy. In this
paper, ASEAN-5 refers to the above mentioned countries. Fig. 9
below shows the potential of RE sources in ASEAN-5 based on data
from International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2010 [64].
Each country of ASEAN-5 strives to utilize RE resources in their
energy production industries. In a report by Ipsos Business Consulting [65], the existing capacity and target capacity (in MW) is
depicted through Table 6.
In its special report in 2013, the IEA states that Southeast Asia is
an extremely diverse and disparate region with vast differences in
the scale and patterns of energy use and energy resources'. Hence,
energy related study (including renewables) between Southeast
Asian countries should recognize the differences as an important
deliberation in the analysis. Ipsos report also described the RE

5.3. Progress of renewable energy programs (20112013)

in Malaysia
After the Five Fuel Policy, which encouraged inclusion of RE
into the energy mix, various RE programs were conducted and
improved from time to time in order to increase RE contribution in
the energy mix [66]. Several programs and initiatives were
launched to promote RE utilization such as Small Renewable
Energy Power (SREP), Biomass Power Generation and Demonstration (BioGen) Project and Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic Technology Application (MBIPV) [31,35].
Ref. [67] examined the Small Renewable Energy Power (SREP)
performance from 2001 to 2010. Sovacool and Drupady [67], note
that SREP failed to achieve its target because of capacity caps,
lengthy approval process, lack of monitoring and unmatched
electricity tariffs with the production costs. This study led to more
comprehensive study in 2011, where key barriers for RE development in Malaysia were identied. The new study found that
shortage of investment and manpower, lack of interest from
commercial investors, and lack of technical know-how has led to
poor performance of RE plants [34].
To improve RE performance, several resolutions were proposed
to remove the key barriers through comprehensive policy, political
and social support to RE energy provider. The Renewable Energy
Act was enacted in 2011 to establish and implement feed-in-tariff
(FiT) system for RE generated electricity, in which access to power
grid is guaranteed and individual can sell the power generated by
RE resources to power companies at premium rate for a specic
period. Financial support is also granted to the RE producers to
enhance the promotion of RE in Malaysia. By 2030, renewable
resources are expected to provide 11% of the energy mix [18,35].
Current policy under FiT scheme shows positive results in 2012
and 2013 as shown in Table 7 [67]. The RE annual power
generation has signicantly increased, showing promising future
for RE in Malaysia.
Success in FiT scheme can be attributed to the incentives,
nancial schemes and funds provided by Malaysia's government.
Under Ninth Malaysia Plan budget, incentives were given to
companies who generate energy from RE based on three categories;
energy efciency incentives, incentives for the use of RE resources

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

and incentives for green building [32]. Because of slow development,

funding for RE was further increased under the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
RE fund was specially established under FiT Project, as well as other
schemes such as Renewable Energy Business Fund (REBF), Green
Technology Financial Scheme (GTFS) and Renewable Energy and
Energy Efciency Scheme. The special allocation of funds for RE
development resulted in the increase in contribution of RE in the
energy mix, thus help Malaysia to expand her power production.

6. Nuclear as new potential source for future power expansion

The 10th Malaysia Plan highlighted the willingness of the
government to add nuclear to its energy mix. Nuclear is one of
the electricity generation technologies with low GHG emission,
and on a life-cycle basis the GHG emission of nuclear power plants
is comparable with that of hydro and wind [68].
Nuclear energy has existed for many decades and it has long been
considered as the only form of energy that can replace fossil fuels
adequately. Most developed countries such as USA, Russia, Japan
and Korea have nuclear reactors as part of their energy mix. More
countries of the world are increasingly hanging their electricity fate on

Fig. 10. Energy fuel mix projection (2008) [69].

1103

nuclear, with about 30 countries, mostly industrialized, relying on it,

and more are preparing towards having their pioneer nuclear power
plant . Though, the Fukushima nuclear accident which occurred as a
result of an earth quake and subsequent tsunami inundation of
TEPCO's nuclear power plant in Fukushima- Daiichi has resulted in
public scrutiny of atomic energy. Some prominent environmentalists
have thrown their supports behind the continued use of nuclear power
now that the threat of global warming seems to be more detrimental.
As at the end of August 2010, 441 nuclear plants were
operating in 29 countries, with an installed 375 GW, which is
equivalent to 14 per cent of global electricity needs and some
developing countries have contacted the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) for assistance on their nuclear plans [68].
In southeast Asia, countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam
and Malaysia have plans for pioneer nuclear program.
In Malaysia, of the three main sources for power generation
(coal, gas and hydro), it is expected that the gas supply to the
power sector may not go beyond 2030. To cover for the shortfall in
gas supply, coal red electricity generation may need to be
increased. This is not an attractive option, given that almost
100% of the national coal supply is imported [13], and this will
expose Malaysia to interruption in supply and increases in cost of
coal. Hence, government adopted a more environmentally friendly
approach which is economically competitive.
The decision to consider adding nuclear was made by policy
makers in July 2009 after careful consideration of energy forecast
demand and current energy situation in the country [69]. Nuclear
has been favored because of its economic competitiveness and low
GHG emission [18]. The Malaysian government has decided to
include nuclear energy as an option in the new energy policy in
2010. This is due to the realization that the available national energy
resources are inadequate to guarantee supply beyond the year 2030
[1,69]. The estimated contribution of nuclear in the 2008 fuel mix
projection by TNB is shown in Fig. 10.
In December 2010, the government announced plans to build
two 1000-MW nuclear power plants by 2022; and this was
followed by establishment of the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC), which will lead the planning process of utilizing
nuclear power in Peninsular Malaysia [18]. Fig. 11 shows the
proposed development timeline by MNPC [70].
MNPC, in cooperation with more than a dozen other governmental
agencies and industrial organizations, had conducted a series of

Fig. 11. Proposed nuclear power program development by MNPC [70].

1104

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

studies to systematically examine the role of nuclear power in

Malaysia and to evaluate the national state-of-preparedness for the
implementation of nuclear power program in Malaysia [17]. Currently,
Malaysia is in the preliminary evaluation phase, where activities such
as pre-feasibility study, policy study, regulation revisit and potential
site selection are actively conducted (Fig. 11). The construction of the
rst nuclear reactor is expected to commence in 2017. The cost
implication of building the twin unit (of 1 GW each) is estimated to
be RM 21.3 billion investment up to the year 2020.
There are some critical issues over the state of readiness of
Malaysia to adopt nuclear power. The main concerns have always
been the nuclear waste disposal, NPP decommission issues, and
possible risks and hazards of NPP. In the wake of Japan's nuclear
crisis in 2011, certain countries opted to freeze and forgo plans to
build nuclear power plant [70,71]. Malaysia has critically observed
the situation and reviewed the current progress after the incident,
which gives valuable information for the feasibility studies. The
post-Fukushima nuclear program in Malaysia is relatively slow
because the government is under public pressure to carefully
reconsider safety and security factors based on the information
obtained from the Japanese incident.
From the timeline (Fig. 11), this is the year to ofcially launch
nuclear power program. However, the government is yet to do that
because a lot more has to be done in order to assess public
sentiment towards nuclear program before the launching of the
program and proceeding to the construction phase of the plan.

7. Conclusion
This study presents an overview of the Malaysia energy sector,
the energy policy revolution and the power sector expansion
strategy towards secure sustainability. The current and future
scenarios of power sector in Malaysia have been highlighted. From
comparison of historical energy consumption with long term
energy forecast, the development in the power sector was depicted
and two key points were identied to secure future power supply in
Malaysia. First, diversication of energy sources in the energy mix is
important to maintain stable energy production. Second, improvement of the energy policy, implementation of new energy policy,
power expansion plan and consideration of new energy source
must be regularly revised to avoid dependency on individual energy
source and provide sustainable power generation.
Expanding and upgrading the existing power plants is the best
solution to fulll power demand in a short term period. However,
for longer term, Malaysia needs stable supply of energy sources in
the energy mix. Renewable energy is one of the best alternatives
that will play vital roles in Malaysia's energy mix in the future due
to the abundance of renewable energy resources in Malaysia. The
contribution of RE to the mix has improved after the implementation of FiT scheme, while nuclear energy is still under careful
consideration by the government.
It is clear that further development of depleting fossil resources
(like coal, gas and oil) for electricity generation in Malaysia will
result in more emission of GHG and will hinder Malaysia from
achieving its target of reducing carbon emission to the environment. To achieve this target, the government has to reconsider its
power sector expansion plan which favors the use of more coal
and gas as fuel for electricity generation.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education,
Malaysia (MOHE) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for providing
a research grant (GUP Q.J.130000.7126.03H67) and Zamalah

scholarship for this research. This work was also supported by

the Research Management Center (RMC) of Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia through its Post-Doc Fellowship for the third author,
under the research grant (Q.J130000.21A2.01E98).

References
[1] MEC. Malaysia Energy Commission: Peninsular Malaysia Electricity Supply
Industry Outlook. Suruhanjaya Tenaga, Putrajaya; 2013.
[2] Ong HC, Mahlia TMI, Masjuki HH. A review on energy scenario and sustainable
energy in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:63947.
[3] Haggard S. The political economy of the Asian nancial crisis: Peterson
Institute; 2000.
[4] Chandran V, Sharma S, Madhavan K. Electricity consumptiongrowth nexus:
the case of Malaysia. Energy Policy 2010;38:60612.
[5] Ali R, Daut I, Taib S. A review on existing and future energy sources for
electrical power generation in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:404755.
[6] Tan C, Maragatham K, Leong Y. Electricity energy outlook in Malaysia. IOP
Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. IOP Publishing; 2013;
012126.
[7] Aliyu A, Ramli A, Saleh M. Environmental impact assessment of a new nuclear
power plant (NPP) based on atmospheric dispersion modeling. Stoch Environ
Res Risk Assess 2014:115.
[8] Gan PY, Li Z. An econometric study on long-term energy outlook and the
implications of renewable energy utilization in Malaysia. Energy Policy
2008;36:8909.
[9] Hashim H, Ho WS. Renewable energy policies and initiatives for a sustainable
energy future in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:47807.
[10] TheGlobalEconomy.com. Malaysia Electricity production from renewable
sources; 2014.
[11] Jaafar MZ, Kheng WH, Kamaruddin N. Greener energy solutions for a
sustainable future: issues and challenges for Malaysia. Energy Policy
2003;31:106172.
[12] Economic Planning Unit. Tenth Malaysia Plan (10th MP). Putrajaya; 2014.
[13] Oh TH, Pang SY, Chua SC. Energy policy and alternative energy in Malaysia:
issues and challenges for sustainable growth. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2010;14:124152.
[14] Khor CS, Lalchand G. A review on sustainable power generation in Malaysia to
2030: historical perspective, current assessment, and future strategies. Renew
Sustain Energy Rev 2014;29:95260.
[15] MEC. Malaysia Energy Commision; National Energy Balance Report 2010.
Suruhanjaya Tenaga, Putrajaya; 2010.
[16] MEC. Malaysia Energy Commision; National Energy Balance Report 2012.
Suruhanjaya Tenaga, Putrajaya; 2012.
[17] Mohamed AR, Lee KT. Energy for sustainable development in Malaysia: energy
policy and alternative energy. Energy Policy 2006;34:238897.
[18] Ali R, Daut I, Taib S. A review on existing and future energy sources for
electrical power generation in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:404755.
[19] PEMANDU. Chapter 6: Powering the Malaysian Economy with Oil, Gas and
Energy Economic Transformation Programme: A Roadmap for Malaysia. Kuala
Lumpur: Jabatan Perdana Menteri; 2010. p. 183221.
[20] Economic Planning Unit. Ninth Malaysia Plan (9th MP) (20062010). Putrajaya; 2014.
[21] Ong HC, Mahlia TMI, Masjuki HH. A review on energy scenario and sustainable
energy in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:63947.
[22] Mohamed A Rahman, Lee KT. Energy for sustainable development in Malaysia: energy policy and alternative energy. Energy Policy 2006;34:238897.
[23] Leo-Moggie A. Keynote address. Eighth APEC coal ow seminar/ninth APEC
clean fossil energy technical seminar/fourth APEC coal trade, investment,
liberalization and facilitation work-shop. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2002.
[24] Shae SM, Mahlia TMI, Masjuki HH, Andriyana A. Current energy usage and
sustainable energy in Malaysia: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2011;15:43707.
[25] Oh TH, Pang SY, Chua SC. Energy policy and alternative energy in Malaysia:
issues and challenges for sustainable growth. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2010;14:124152.
[26] Aliyu AS, Ramli AT, Saleh MA. Nigeria electricity crisis: power generation
capacity expansion and environmental ramications. Energy 2013;61:34567.
[27] Othman ZA. The Future of Hydro Power in Malaysia. JURUTERA Bulletin.
Petaling Jaya. Inst Eng Malays 2005:323.
[28] Shae SM, Mahlia TMI, Masjuki HH, Andriyana A. Current energy usage and
sustainable energy in Malaysia: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2011;15:43707.
[29] Khor CS, Lalchand G. A review on sustainable power generation in Malaysia to
2030: historical perspective, current assessment, and future strategies. Renew
Sustain Energy Rev 2014;29:95260.
[30] Chua SC, Oh TH, Goh WW. Feed-in tariff outlook in Malaysia. Renew Sustain
Energy Rev 2011;15:70512.
[31] Hashim H, Ho WS. Renewable energy policies and initiatives for sustainable
energy future in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:47807.

N.A. Basri et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015) 10941105

[32] Tan CS et al. 2013 IOP Conference Sereries: Earth Environment Science 16,
012126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/16/1/012126.
[33] Chua SC, Oh TH. Review on Malaysia's national energy developments: key
policies, agencies, programmes and international involvements. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2010;14:291625.
[34] Ahmad S, MZAA Kadir, Shae S. Current perspective of the renewable energy
development in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:897904.
[35] Malaysia Energy Comission. Laporan Tahunan Suruhanjaya Tenaga 2012.
Suruhanjaya Tenaga. Putrajaya; 2012.
[36] Perko T, Turcanu C, Geenen D. Media reporting and changes in public opinion
after Fukushima nuclear accident: Belgium as case study. Int J Nucl Gov Econ
Ecol 2012;3:291307.
[37] Azid A, Juahir H, Aris A, Toriman M, Latif M, Zain S, et al. Spatial Analysis of the
Air Pollutant Index in the Southern Region of Peninsular Malaysia Using
Environmetric Techniques. In: Aris AZ, Tengku Ismail TH, Harun R, Abdullah
AM, Ishak MY, editors. From Sources to Solution. Singapore: Springer; 2014.
p. 30712.
[38] Mahlia TMI. Emissions from electricity generation in Malaysia. Renew Energy
2002;27:293300.
[39] Mekhilef S, Safari A, Mustaffa WES, Saidur R, Omar R, Younis MAA. Solar
energy in Malaysia: current state and prospects. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:38696.
[40] CIA. The World Fact Book - Malaysia; 2014.
[41] Chua SC, Oh TH. Solar energy outlook in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:56474.
[42] Azhari AW, Sopian K, Zaharim A, Al Ghoul M. A new approach for predicting
solar radiation in tropical environment using satellite images-case study of
Malaysia. WSEAS Trans Environ Dev 2008;4:3738.
[43] Mekhilef S. Performance of grid connected inverter with maximum power
point tracker and power factor control. Int J Power Electron 2008;1:4962.
[44] Mekhilef S, Rahim N. Implementation of grid-connected photovoltaic system
with power factor control and islanding detection. In: Proceedings of the
Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2004 PESC 04 2004 IEEE 35th
Annual: IEEE; 2004. p. 140912.
[45] Rahim NA, Selvaraj J., Krismadinata. Hysteresis Current Control and Sensorless
MPPT for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems. In: Proceedings of the IEEE
International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, ISIE 2007; 2007. p. 5727.
[46] Kamali SK, Mekhilef S. Evaluation study on grid-connected PV system at
University of Malaya. Technical Postgraduates (TECHPOS). In: Proceedings of
the International Conference on IEEE; 2009. p. 17.
[47] Salman KA, Omar K, Hassan Z. The effect of etching time of porous silicon on
solar cell performance. Superlattices Microstruct 2011;50:64758.
[48] Salman KA, Hassan Z, Omar K. Effect of silicon porosity on solar cell efciency.
Int J Electrochem Sci 2012;7:37686.
[49] Ramizy A, Hassan Z, Omar K, Al-Douri Y, Mahdi MA. New optical features to
enhance solar cell performance based on porous silicon surfaces. Appl Surf Sci
2011;257:61127.
[50] Salam Z, Ishaque K, Taheri H. An improved two-diode photovoltaic (PV) model
for PV system. In: Proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Power
Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES) & 2010 Power India; 2010.
p. 15.

1105

[51] Mansor S, Othman AM. An Overview of Solar Electric Car Project in Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia. Advances in Malaysia Energy Research Universiti Teknologi MARA.
[52] UTM. Model for UTM-Solar home. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; 2013.
[53] Buniyamin N, Salah KNY, Mohamed A, Mohamad Z. Low-cost solar water
heater. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Electronic Devices,
Systems and Applications (ICEDSA); 2011. p. 3004.
[54] Malek BA. Renewable Energy Development in Malaysia. In: Proceedings of the
34th Expert Group on New and Renewable Energy Technologies (EGNRET).
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2010. p. 146.
[55] Muhammad-Sukki F, Munir AB, Ramirez-Iniguez R, Abu-Bakar SH, Mohd Yasin SH,
McMeekin SG, et al. Solar photovoltaic in Malaysia: the way forward. Renew
Sustain Energy Rev 2012;16:523244.
[56] Saeed MO, Hassan MN, Mujeebu MA. Assessment of municipal solid waste
generation and recyclable materials potential in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Waste Manag 2009;29:220913.
[57] Manaf LA, Samah MAA, Zukki NIM. Municipal solid waste management in
Malaysia: Practices and challenges. Waste Manag 2009;29:29026.
[58] Kathirvale S, Muhd Yunus MN, Sopian K, Samsuddin AH. Energy potential
from municipal solid waste in Malaysia. Renew Energy 2004;29:55967.
[59] Sumathi S, Chai S, Mohamed A. Utilization of oil palm as a source of renewable
energy in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2008;12:240421.
[60] Shuit SH, Tan KT, Lee KT, Kamaruddin A. Oil palm biomass as a sustainable
energy source: a Malaysian case study. Energy 2009;34:122535.
[61] Hansen S. Feasibility study of performing a life cycle assessment on crude
palm oil production in Malaysia. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2007;12:508.
[62] Bakhtyar B, Sopian K, Sulaiman MY, Ahmad SA. Renewable energy in ve
South East Asian countries: review on electricity consumption and economic
growth. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2013;26:50614.
[63] Lidula NWA, Mithulananthan N, Ongsakul W, Widjaya C, Henson R. ASEAN
towards clean and sustainable energy: Potential, utilization and barriers.
Renew Energy 2007;32:144152.
[64] Deploying Renewable is Southeast Asia. Trends and Potentials. Paris: International Energy Association (IEA); 2010.
[65] Kinghorn C, Sriyotha P. Meeting the energy challenge in South East Asia a
paper on renewable energy Ipsos Business Consulting; 2012.
[66] Sovacool BK, Drupady IM. Examining the small renewable energy power
(SREP) program in Malaysia. Energy Policy 2011;39:724456.
[67] RE Statistics and Monitoring. Putrajaya: Sustainable Energy Development
Authority Malaysia; 2013.
[68] Aliyu AS, Ramli AT, Saleh MA. First nuclear power in Nigeria: an attempt to
address the energy crisis? Int J Nucl Gov Econ Ecol 2013;4:110.
[69] Basri NA, Ramli AT, Aliyu AS. Alternative energy in malaysia beyond 2020
the need for nuclear power. Prog Nucl Sci Technol 2012;3:1647.
[70] Jaafar MZ. Some background and updates of nuclear pre-project activities
spearheaded by MNPC. In: Proceedings of the IAEA Workshop on Nuclear
Power Infrastructure Development. Vienna; 2012.
[71] Ali G, Nitivattananon V, Abbas S, Sabir M. Green waste to biogas: renewable
energy possibilities for Thailand's green markets. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:54239.