RENEWABLE ENERGY ACT ON TRACK FOR SEPTEMBER IMPLEMENTATION       

      
    KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Bernama) -- The Renewable Energy Act is on track to be implemented on September 1, upon the setting up of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), said the Minister of Energy, Green Technology & Water, Peter Chin Fah Kui.
    
    "The industry is keen on the implementation of the Act, and many people even wanted the Act to be in effect immediately. Unfortunately SEDA is only able to function in September, with the Act approved by the cabinet to be in effect then," he said after the launching ceremony for the 2011 MCCC-Country Heights Environmental Green Award.
    
    "I will be announcing the Director General for SEDA early next month," he said.
    
    Under the Act, SEDA will manage the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) programme and also the development of the renewable energy industry in the country.
    
    The much awaited FiT will enable the public, ranging from individuals to independent power producers to sell energy generated via renewable means back to the utility companies, which are mandated to buy the energy at a rate gazetted in the Act.
    
    Replacing the old Small Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) tariff, renewable energy projects such as landfill gas, biogas, biomass, solar, mini hydro will benefit from a significantly higher tariff under the FiT scheme.
    
    "Under the SREP, power producers could only get 21 sen per kilowatt (kW), while now people who produce power using solar panels can get rates as high as RM1.25 per kW," Chin said. (US$1=RM3.00)
    
    He said Tenaga Nasional Bhd has already identitied areas where the FiT scheme can fit in, and no issues were encountered by the national grid operator.
    
    However, he said the one per cent levy imposed on power consumers which will contribute to the Renewable Energy Fund to further develop the industry, may not be enough, citing that entry cost into the industry is still high.
    
    "We have to observe what is going on in the next one to two years under the present format. If more people are willing to venture into renewable energy, the total cost may come down," he said.
    --BERNAMA