KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Industry players should not urge Malaysia to set higher targets for renewable energy (RE) without considering the cost of electricity supply to be borne by consumers.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said in planning the country’s electricity supply, the government had taken an approach to balance the three elements contained in the energy trilemma — affordability and access, energy security and environmental sustainability.

He said the government had set a RE target of 31 per cent of generation capacity for 2025, therefore, the electricity sector was expected to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions by 45 per cent for the period.

"Besides that, efforts to preserve the country’s electricity supply must also be implemented through a consistent and transparent distribution policy and quota approval to give investors confidence to continue investing in the country’s RE industry,” he said when addressing the National Energy Awards (NEA) 2020 Appreciation Ceremony, here, today.

He said the government would also continue with the RE quota approval policy through open bidding to create a conducive ecosystem for the development of the RE industry, thus encouraging fair competition and ensuring that tariff rates remained low.

Meanwhile, Shamsul Anuar said the average rate of power outages recorded in Peninsular Malaysia was less than 50 minutes a year and was the lowest compared to other countries in South-east Asia.

In fact, he said the rate of electricity outages in the peninsula was equivalent to developed countries such as Denmark, France and the United Kingdom but the people (Malaysia) paid lower tariff rates than those countries.

The NEA 2020 appreciation ceremony celebrated the 30 companies that won in the NEA 2020 and which later went on to represent Malaysia at the ASEAN Energy Awards (AEA) 2020 where 15 companies won in various categories.

Among the winners are Honda Showroom and Care Centre, Jelebu Hospital (Negri Sembilan), Top Glove 29 Factory, Amcorp Power Sdn Bhd, Concord Green Energy Sdn Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation Berhad. — Bernama