Developing a sustainable utility-scale solar framework in Malaysia

Abstract

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.

Malaysia is set to increase its solar energy utilisation as the first utility-scale solar project in the country is currently in the works. Accordingly, the national framework for utility-scale solar is currently being formulated in anticipation of more large scale solar generators connecting to the Grid. Meanwhile, in some countries, overly-ambitious renewable programmes have been modified or scaled-down. Most of these power systems have discovered that there is a limit on how much variable energy resources (VERsto) that the Grid can accommodate before major reinforcements need to be made in order to maintain grid reliability. Learning from international experiences, a sustainable and transparent policy is crucial in order to ensure smooth adoption of renewable energy (RE), especially more so in a vertically-integrated environment such as Malaysia. In this study, the impact of utility-scale solar penetration on the Peninsular Malaysia total generation system cost in the year 2020 was evaluated. An economic approach was adopted, in which the generation system differential cost and fuel off-take as a function of solar penetration level were analysed using PLEXOS simulation software. A background on the utilityscale solar landscape in Malaysia is also presented. The results point to a much higher penetration level than predicted, in the range of 600 to 2200 MW. It was also discovered that, at higher penetration levels, coal generation will be significantly affected by utility-scale solar integration.