KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Malaysia has to catch up in its renewable energy quest as the capacity generated by the approved projects is still low, says Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Diraja Mahdzir Khalid.
In the first quarter, approved projects were able to churn out a total capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) with actual implementation only hitting 188MW, he said.
This could spell a challenge to the government’s goal of generating 985MW of renewable energy by 2015, he said when opening the Asean Power Week here today.
“As part of Malaysia’s strategy to further diversify energy sources in electricity generation, greater importance has been made to increase the capacity of renewable sources to meet peak demand,” he said. The deputy minister also said the current mix of electricity generation in Peninsula Malaysia consisted of gas (52 per cent), coal (42 per cent), with hydro and renewable making up the remainder.
The government targets to increase coal to 64 per cent by 2020 in a bid to cut carbon intensity.
Asean Power Week, a three-day conference and exhibition for the electric
power generation industry, will attract more than 7,000 industry delegates from
over 60 countries. — Bernama
