The potential for Malaysia in the renewable energy sector is very high as it has plenty of resources, such as oil palm waste, that can be capitalised to generate biomass energy, says the Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC).
The new Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) system to be introduced next month in Malaysia will be the tool to emerge very strong in renewable energy, and it will enable the green industry to grow, said MGCC general manager Thomas Brandt at a media briefing here today. The new FIT system is expected to enable consumers and companies to generate renewable energy and sell it back to utility companies and distributors for a fixed number of years and among the current eligible resources for the FIT programme in Malaysia are biomass, biogas, mini-hydro and solar energy.
Today’s briefing meanwhile was concerning a visit to Germany by the Solar-Greentech delegation from Malaysia this June which is expected to focus on the areas of solar technology, green township and green building.
On employment opportunities in the renewable energy sector, Brandt said in Germany where the industry has been developed over the past 10 years, employment opportunities have increased from initially 30,000 to nearly 500,000 now with those with high skills enjoying high income.
There is therefore the great potential for a high degree of employment as well as secured employment and high income which is the target of the government and this will be in line with the development of the sector, Brandt said. He said German companies were also interested to partner local palm oil millers as they had the technology to generate electricity from biomass and Malaysia had plenty of resources with a reasonable cost of production.
He also said that local palm oil millers were currently not interested in investing in the sector due to the lower tariff and returns. However if the government increases the electricity tariff, currently at 21sen to 40 sen for a period of 20 years, although the initial investment will be expensive, they would be willing to invest. After six or seven years, they would be able to make good money, he suggested.
