July-August, 2020 | @green
industry
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waste, which was the norm.
“We have proposed to UNIDO to have the programme
at the Asean level as there are some innovations produced
by our local entrepreneurs which do not necessarily fit the
Malaysian market. But they may potentially be useful in
other Asean regions.”
The Newton-Ungku Omar Fund is another programme
co-managed by MIGHT and the British High Commission.
The Fund has an overarching theme of climate change and
sustainable urbanisation.
MIGHT is the match-funder and coordinating body in
Malaysia, and also the delivery partner for several programmes
under the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund.
The priorities areas of the programme in Malaysia are
health and life sciences; environmental resilience and
energy security; future cities; agri-technology; and digital
innovation and creativity.
“We work together with universities and industries,
along with our United Kingdom counterparts, to come up
with new innovative solutions.
“One of the innovations is the Kuala Lumpur flood
prediction model, which is implemented by DBKL. It
has brought a lot of advantages and helped to manage a
disaster before it happens.”
Another project undertaken by MIGHT is the Malaysia
Smart Cities Alliance (MSCA).
It is a platform established and launched during World
Urban Forum 9 on Feb 13, 2018, for council members to
deliberate on Smart City’s issues and challenges. It creates
an opportunity for networking among stakeholders.
The formation of MSCA consists of cross-sector participation
from academicians, governments and industry
players.
Thus, it formed a new structure comprising founding,
core, vertical, innovator, market & funding governed by
the strategic objectives, specific roles and responsibilities
for the members.
Currently in Malaysia, the number of ‘smart’ initiatives
being executed by a few parties across the major cities in
Malaysia include Kuala Lumpur, Johore Baru, Kuching,
Kota Kinabalu, Malacca and Ipoh.
Government-Linked Companies
Datuk Yusoff noted that while MIGHT was pushing for
many of these programmes through startups and entrepreneurs,
there was also a need for active participation
from GLCs.
“We have been working with Tenaga Nasional Berhad
(TNB), especially after acknowledging that the energy
sector will be soon disrupted.”
He predicted energy would soon be generated by just
anyone from the comforts of their home.
“The people who were once the customers will soon be
the competitors. Thus, it is best to have them as partners
rather than competitors.”
TNB took MIGHT’s advice and through their subsidiaries,
such as TNB Energy Services, TNB Research and
GSPARX, is set to meet the challenges with renewable
energy.
“We facilitated TNB to meet up with various industry
operators to implement solar panels on rooftops. Not only
it reduces the greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions, but
it also brings down the operating cost for the operators.”
Other GLCs MIGHT has worked with are Sime Darby
and Petronas. — @green
over the years faced many challenges. The primary and common
problem among smart city stakeholders was the lack of funding.
“What we did was find funding for Malacca. By securing the
GEF6 programme on smart cities project, we brought in about
RM14 million into the State.”
There were also other challenges such as the readiness
of infrastructure such as functional connectivity, developing
regulations and policies to support the sustainable city plan and
creating awareness among the citizens.
“We were able to overcome these issues because Federal,
State government, industry players and Malacca folk can work
together towards the same goal in making Malacca a sustainable
city.”
Malacca served as a demonstration city. Based on it, MIGHT
was able to build a framework which would assist other States in
future.
“The programme helps to establish a framework and
indicators so people can approach smart city projects and
assess its development. We think this model can be replicated
in other States such as Selangor and Kedah,” said Mohd
Yusoff.— @green
HOLDING COURT (from left): Izham Zainal Abidin, Qaharuddin Abdullah, Mohd
Zainal Abidin Ab Kadir.
Bolstering the energy
trilemma through smart grid
BY CAMILIA REZALI
Energy sustainability was less of a concern
back in time as our electricity was well-generated
through a high percentage of natural gas, coal,
diesel oil and fuel oil.
But as time went by, climate change and
the variation of crude oil prices led to worries
about how energy and electricity specifically, is
generated, transmitted and consumed, especially
in Malaysia.
“Energy trilemma” is a term introduced by the
World Energy Council to describe difficulties in
finding secure energy supplies, catering to rising
demand without prices becoming unaffordable
and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Towards
this end, Malaysia is progressing on its smart grid
efforts in creating a better nation.
The smart grid is the concept of modernising
the electric grid by integrating electrical and
information technology in between any point of
generation and any point of consumption.
The Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN),
Malaysian Industry-Government Group for
High Technology (MIGHT), TNB Research and
the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO), recently held a webinar
called “Smart Grid Roadshow” titled Smart Grid: A
Solution to the Energy Trilemma.
The virtual talk had two distinguished speakers.
They were Prof Ir Dr Mohd Zainal Abidin Ab Kadir,
a Strategic Higher Professor in Lightning and High
Voltage Engineering, and Ir Mohd Qaharuddin
Abdullah, a Senior Principal Analyst II Sustainable
Development Technologies Division of MIGHT.
The Smart Grid project is a global programme
which is internationally recognised under an
integrated approach by the World Bank and
funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
and nationally managed by UNIDO.
According to Qaharuddin, the programme
involves 28 cities in 11 countries around the world.
“Malaysia is very proud to be one of the selected
recipients of this particular programme with a cofinancing
element of US$18 million and having GEF
as direct finance provider of US$3 million.”
For Malaysia, the smart grid demonstration
project is in Malacca.
“At the moment we have the Ministry of Housing
and Local Government (KPKT), MIGHT and UNIDO
along with other collaborating partners. What
needs to be done together with the stakeholders
is a concerted effort on not just policy framework,
capacity-building and awareness, but also the
Smart Grid demonstration project in Malacca
aligning with the 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG 7) target which is affordable and clean
energy, via investing in solar, wind and thermal
power, improving energy productivity, and ensuring
energy for all is vital if we are to achieve by 2030,"
said Ir Qaharuddin.
There is a growing need to enhance energy
sustainability to prevent depletion of natural
resources. Qaharuddin highlighted three pillars to
sustainable cities, which includes the economics,
environmental and social aspects.
Although addressing each of these facets takes
time, Malaysia is progressing. The project involves
the development of the Smart Grid Regulatory
Framework (SGRF), having close engagement
with the Malacca government on smart grid
focussing on energy efficiency, large scale solar
and NetEnergy Metering (NEM), and promoting
awareness through social media platforms.
On top of that, in 2018 MIGHT collaborated with
UNITEN, TNBR and GSPARX on a showcase and
talk series event, TechnoMart.The event offered
a very strategic and unique exhibition combined
with high-level networking within stakeholders and
decision-makers to allow companies to promote
their products and services.
TNBR presented its latest R&D on Smart Grid
Project deployment while TNB RE-GSPARX
presented on the NEM to support rooftop for
Smart Grid deployment in Malacca. UNITEN
presented on the Human Capacity Development
for the Smart Grid Project.
On Feb 19-21, a technical assessment was
held in Malacca to identify technology components
for the smart grid demo project including energy
storage, smart meter, large scale solar, smart
thermal and EV charging stations.
The sites for smart grid demonstration project
implementation were identified with integration
options of sustainable technology applications
and the server room to be located at Wisma TNB
Malacca.
Qaharuddin said: “We have a series of
engagements planned every month from June 23,
2020 to Jan 5, 2021.”
Looking at the global energy viewpoint, Prof
Zainal said: “When it comes to RE development,
from 2015, solar increased from one per cent to 70
per cent. The energy generation translated into an
opportunity for the country.”
In terms of the installed capacity, maximum
demand and generation in Malaysia as of 2018
reached 24,139MW, 18,338MWand 126,790GWh
consecutively. It involved 40 per cent usage from
the industry, 35 per cent for commercial use, 23
per cent of domestic consumption and two per
cent of other usages, shared Prof Zainal.
At present, the latest focus for the smart grid
project is on the Virtual Power Plant (VPP). The
VPP system allows people to strategically manage
the assets through the geographic information
system (GIS) where they can see the historical
information of selected assets.
Said Prof Zainal: “The common challenges, for
both advanced and emerging economies, is the
need for more public funds and tariff incentives
for all stages of smart grid development, whether
it is for R&D, large demonstration projects or
full system deployment. We also need a clear
roadmap not just from the regulatory perspective,
but also creating public awareness.” — @green