News from Astana Expo 2017
Business Matching Session Held During Malaysia’s Renewable Energy Week Saw Potential Cooperation Between Malaysian Companies and Kazakh Counterparts
20 JUNE 2017, Astana, Kazakhstan – The business matching session held during the Renewable Energy Week programme organised by Malaysia at EXPO 2017 here, saw potential cooperation in energy projects worth about USD1 billion identified between Malaysian companies and their Kazakh counterparts.
Pekat Group Managing Director, Chin Soo Mau, said its subsidiary Pekat Solar Sdn Bhd has been offered to acquire 75% equity in a Kazakhstan government-owned company for USD10 million.
“We are keen to acquire equity in the government-owned company subject to terms and conditions. It involves a 250MW solar project in Kazakhstan valued at USD250 million. There is good potential in this acquisition as the Kazakhstan Government is increasing renewable energy in its power generation mix. This equity purchase will be Pekat Group’s biggest investment overseas,” said Chin, adding that Pekat is expected to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the company next week.
At the business matching session, KazTransGas expressed interest to have a joint venture with a Malaysian company in a gas pipeline project from Astana to Kyzylorda worth USD948 million.
Business matching sessions and pocket talks are being organised by the Malaysia Pavilion throughout the 3-month expo that started on June 10, 2017. Malaysia is among more than 100 countries taking part in the international specialised exposition themed “Future Energy”.
These activities aim at forging trade, investment and cooperation between Malaysia and Kazkahstan as well as the other participating countries, in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, Islamic green financing, halal industry and green technology.
A total of 27 Kazakh companies and seven Malaysian companies attended the first business matching session held in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Week.
Subsequent weekly programmes will focus on the topics such as:
- Energy Efficiency (June 19-23)
- Green Innovation: Powering Your Future (June 26-30)
- Climate Change & Sustainability (July 3-7)
- Business & Tourism (July 10 -14)
- Green Financing (July 17-21)
- Green Products & Services (July 24-28)
- Sustainable Cities (July 31 – Aug 4)
- Green Transportation (Aug 7-11)
- Education (Aug 14-18)
- Water and Wastewater (Aug 21-25)
- #MyButterflyEffect and Youth (Aug 28- Sept 1)
- Green & Halal Industry (Sept 3-7)
Energy Transition for Developing Countries: Challenges and Strategies
During the Renewable Energy week, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia hosted a panel discussion on “Energy Transition for Developing Countries: Challenges and Strategies”. It was moderated by Catherine Ridu, CEO of SEDA Malaysia, with panelists from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).
The key issues on energy transition in Malaysia that were discussed included integrating large scale variable renewable energy, such as solar in electricity grid; the need to fully rationalise the gas subsidy in the electricity tariff to reflect the true cost of electricity; and energy access for all which includes providing sustainable energy such as solar and micro hydro to replace diesel generating systems.
The panelists agreed that Malaysia should encourage more distributed renewable power generations via existing mechanisms such as Feed-in Tariff (FiT), net energy metering (NEM) and self-consumption. Other key issues discussed included the importance of energy storage systems to manage the intermittency of renewable energy (RE) such as solar energy and the digitisation of the future electricity system.
A Case Study on FiT in Malaysia
Gladys Mak, Director (Feed-in Tariff) of SEDA Malaysia, presented a case study of the FiT in Malaysia. Participants of the talk were given a walkthrough of how FiT was chosen as the catalyst for RE in Malaysia and where the nation stood at currently. The key impact from FiT is that the country experienced growth of 7 times, from 65 MW of RE prior to the introduction of the FiT in 2011, to 500MW with the FiT today.
Also with the FiT in place, cost of solar PV has significantly reduced over time at about 63% (from USD4,443 [RM19,000] in 2011 to USD1,647 [RM7,000] in 2016). With a local market created from FIT, the country has seen more commitment from FDIs towards satisfying the country’s demand. It was pointed out that the FiT indeed was the catalyst for grid-connected RE market and industry, and has certainly spurred other policy development in the country such as the net metering scheme and large scale solar.
A Success Story on the Development of the First Floating Photovoltaic (PV) Solar System in Malaysia
Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research (TNB Research), a wholly owned subsidiary of the national utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), shared its success story on the development of the first floating photovoltaic (PV) solar system in Malaysia.
Sustainable Energy for Remote Communities
Sabah Electricity (SESB) delivered a talk on sustainable energy initiatives for remote communities. Through these initiatives, the electricity coverage in Sabah has increased from 68.8% in 2005 to 95% today.
Malaysia’s participation at EXPO 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan is organised by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Malaysia together with its agency Malaysian Green Technology Corporation. For more details or to register for the weekly-themed forums and talks, visit http://www.greenfuturemalaysia.com
Issued by: Malaysian Green Technology Corporation
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About the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Malaysia
The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Malaysia (KeTTHA) was established on 9 April 2009 as a result of the restructuring of the former Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications. KeTTHA is responsible for formulating and implementing policies in the electricity, green technology and water sectors.
About GreenTech Malaysia
The Malaysian Green Technology Corporation or GreenTech Malaysia is an organisation under the purview of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA). It is charged with the development and promotion of green technology as a strategic engine for socio- economic growth in Malaysia.
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Photo credits: Bircan Unver, The Light Millennium
Posted on June 21, 2017 | https://turkishlibrary.us – http://www.lightmillennium.org.