November-December , 2020 | @ green cover story
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including recommendations on policies laws and actions to be applied to promote SE .
The government had tasked SEDA to develop a Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap ( RETR ). In 2019 , it undertook this study to establish the RETR up to the year 2035 .
“ SEDA believes the publication of RETR 2035 will be most timely to demonstrate a socially- just energy transition towards a more environmentally sustainable future .
“ When an energy transition is socially-just , it embodies inclusivity and ensures wealth is equitably distributed ,” Sanjayan said .
The RETR 2035 supports global trends of renewables such as the deployment of smaller and distributed renewable energy generations , which will , in turn , provide opportunities for participation by individuals , and small and medium enterprises ( SMEs ).
“ The RETR 2035 is expected to be launched once approved by the Ministry . The roadmap should resonate with the objectives of the government ’ s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 ,” he said , adding that it also provided inputs to the 12th Malaysia Plan and the National Energy Policy expected to be launched in Q1 2021 .
SEDA is committed to continuously promoting , managing energy efficiently and effectively based on the related available best practices and with the National regulations on Energy Management . To accomplish this , it is committed to the following :
• Establish an energy management committee from various backgrounds / expertise / departments led by the top management
• Providing human capital development training encompassing awareness training for all staff and technical training to the selected officer
The Covid-19 pandemic represents a timely opportunity to reset the priority of government policies , especially energy policies to accelerate energy transition before the window of opportunity to address the 1.5 ° C global average temperature increase closes .”
• Continuous improvement in energy management
• Dissemination and sharing of information on energy management and energy efficiency practice to every employee
• Upgrading ( in stages ) office equipment to more efficient and cost-effective and
• Collect energy consumption data on quarterly basis for continuous improvements , assessments and monitoring . SEDA as the one of agencies responsible for providing technical facilitation as well as promoting Sustainable Energy in Malaysia , used its in-house expertise to initiate energy management in its headquarters in Putrajaya .
Various energy management initiatives have helped SEDA in achieving the Building Energy Index ( BEI ) of 51 kWh / m2 / year ( Zero Energy Building ZEB Ready ), compared to 220 to 300 kWh / m2 / year for a typical office building in Malaysia and electricity bill of RM2,000 / mth . This translated to savings of almost 74,143.45 kWh per year ( at least RM38,000 per annum ) and avoided 50 tons per year of carbon emissions . — @ green
Malaysia will contribute to the Renewable Energy ( RE ) targets set by Asean . This year , SEDA chaired the Asean Renewable Energy Subsector Network ( RE- SSN ) in promoting the further deployment of RE in the Asean region via the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation ( APAEC ). SEDA is also mindful that a new renewable energy roadmap is needed ; one that is relevant in its time to shape the future of energy in the country .
For ETI 2020 , Malaysia is ranked 38th among 115 countries and maintained the lead in energy transition efforts among developing and emerging Asia . While Malaysia has performed very well in specific attributes such as energy access and security , there are still opportunities to improve . These will be in areas such as increasing the share of renewables and decreasing the share of coal in the energy mix , reducing pollution-related to conventional energy production , introducing the price of pollution and rescinding subsidies for fossil fuel .
How has Covid-19 impacted the economic growth from the energy sector ? The year 2020 has been exceptional , whereby the world faces the same challenges around the same time . There are very few countries that are not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic . Global economies have come almost to a grinding halt as countries imposed total or partial lockdowns to curb the rapid spread of the pandemic . This lockdown came with a heavy economic price as companies suffered financial distress and employees experienced pay cuts or job losses . This challenge is further exacerbated by the eroding prices of oil , which affects oil-producing countries like Malaysia . For the first time in history , we witnessed negative prices for crude oil in late April 2020 . The Covid-19 pandemic represents a timely opportunity to reset the priority of government policies , especially energy policies to accelerate energy transition before the window of opportunity to address the 1.5 ° C global average temperature increase closes . This is in the recent publica-