FiT quota applications open on May 2 , 2014

FiT quota applications open on May 2

Posted on 3 April 2014 - 05:37am

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1005839

PETALING JAYA: The Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry announced that that the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) quota for Peninsular Malaysia – and now Labuan and Sabah. – will be released for application on May 2.

Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Ongkili said the quota release for 2014 marks an important milestone in the implementation of the FiT mechanism as Sabah and Labuan will be participating for the first time.

He said the total FiT quota allocated for commercial operation by end of this year will be 65 megawatts (MW) and this covers the renewable energy source of biogas, biomass, biomass (solid waste), small hydro, solar photovoltaics (PV) for the individuals, solar PV for the non-individuals and a new category for solar PV for community.

In addition to the inclusion of Sabah and Labuan, he said, the ministry has also revised five of the subsidiary legislations, including those concerned with the Displace Cost (DC) and technical and operational requirements (T&O) rules.

Ongkili said the DC has been revised upwards to reflect the increase in the cost of supply of electricity in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan. He said the new DC will allow more quotas to be released from the expected amount of the Renewable Energy Fund (RE Fund) to be collected.

"Whereas the amendment to the T&O subsidiary legislations include changes to some of the definitions in the subsidiary legislations in order to standardise them with the definitions used under the Electricity Supply Act 1990 and its associated regulations," he added.

"The amendment will also result in a reduction in transaction cost incurred by renewable energy developers. For example, solar PV installations with capacity of 12kW up to 425kW will only incur a connection confirmation check cost of between RM1,000 and RM5,000," he said, adding that previously installations exceeding 180kW up to 1MW required a power system study that cost RM20,000.

Ongkili said further refinements have been made to the FiT quota application process for large-scale solar PV exceeding 425 kW. Application for this category must be submitted manually to the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA Malaysia) and must comply with all existing requirements under the e-FiT system as well as other additional conditions that will be disseminated by the authority through its website at www.seda.gov.my and stakeholder engagement workshops.

FiT is a policy mechanism administered and managed by SEDA Malaysia as provided under the Renewable Energy Act.

Ongkili said the allocation for FiT quota is still available for the next eight years after 2017 for non-solar PV technology. To mark Sabah's and Labuan's inaugural participation in FiT, he added, there is a special solar PV quota of 5MW for non-individual applications there for capacity of above 425kW and up to 2MW.

As at end Feb 2014, RM4.8 million has been paid out to biogas, RM4.86 million to small hydro, RM37.8 million to biomass and RM40.9 million to solar PV, Ongkili said

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