KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Malaysia remains the preferred destination in Southeast Asia for investors in the renewable energy (RE) space but Vietnam is another up and coming active market, says TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd managing director Mohd Yusrizal Mohd Yusof.

“They have added close to 16 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity this past two, three years but the main issue with the Vietnam grid system right now is they are facing sort of grid congestion whereby there are developers who are being curtailed with their production.  

“I believe until the issue is resolved — and we heard that Vietnam Electricity has already planned and allocated capital expenditure for the improvement of its grid system — Malaysia will continue to be the target market within this region,” he said.

Mohd Yusrizal was speaking at the “Investment in Renewable Energy – Opportunities and Challenges” panel session in conjunction with Invest Malaysia 2021 Series 4: Renewable Energy – Decarbonising Malaysia, held virtually on Tuesday (Nov 23).

He said he believed that although Malaysia is slightly slow in terms of RE adoption and its system is a bit stringent, the country will try to make sure that it would be good and low risk for investors when RE investments are approved.

“We do have proper protection especially for the investors in Malaysia and as you can see from large scale solar (LSS) [projects] namely LSS1, LSS2, and especially LSS3 and also LSS4, it is always oversubscribed.  

“It shows investors’ confidence in the Malaysian LSS bidding. And to a certain extent the regulatory framework is there, the support like the power purchase agreement (PPA) and financing in the country is there,” he said.        

Mohd Yusrizal said RE will be the focus of investors going forward, notwithstanding that there are some challenges that needed to be addressed.  

“One challenge that we have to address is basically in terms of the availability of 24/7 renewables as probably we all know right now wind capabilities are being limited within this region, but solar I believe will provide a solution for us towards that.

“Other than that, we do believe that hydrogen fuel cell options are also going to be around. [Also], other mechanical storage options are being studied very intensely right now and for us also to sort of consider to look at this option for future use.

“Another segment that would be interesting is the low wind speed segment which could also contribute although not in a major way like solar perhaps at least diversifying the resources for us here,” he said.