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Malaysia Aims for 5.5% Renewable Energy Share in Installed Capacity by 2015
With a goal to achieve 40% cut in carbon emissions by 2020, the Malaysian government plans to increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy mix to 5.5% by 2015, according to a statement made by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The government had created support mechanisms and launched a feed-in-tariff scheme which pays a premium rate for generating electricity through renewable sources, Prime Minister Najib Razak said. According to him, renewable energy would make investments worth RM70 billion ($23 billion) and support 50,000 jobs by 2020.
“It will also avoid 42.2 million tonnes of carbon emissions, about a 40 percent reduction, which I promised at the Copenhagen Climate Conference,” he added.
“We have pushed renewable energy into the spotlight and now aim to secure 5.5 percent of the total energy capacity from renewable sources by 2015 and 11 per cent by 2020,” he said during his keynote address at the official opening of the third International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM 2012).
He said it is estimated that all the green projects under the Economic Transformation Programme will generate a total gross national income of RM53 billion by 2020.
“I believe that market forces will change people’s buying behaviour. Once there is a clear signal from governments that the low carbon transition is underway, and then markets will start pricing zero-carbon vehicles accordingly and more consumers will start buying them.”
Several fiscal incentives, policy instruments, and institutional mechanisms are in place for the development of renewable energy in Malaysia. The green initiatives would help to contribute to the effort of the Malaysian government to meet the challenges of climate change and increasing power demand of a growing future market.
Image Credit: wind turbine, solar panel, & globe via Shutterstock
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2012-10-12 20:48:41
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