THE National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) will contribute to fair and equitable energy transition and boost the growth of the country’s renewable energy industry, said Natural Resources and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

The ministry, he said in a statement, will ensure all projects and initiatives provide optimal benefits to the country and the people.

“This is in line with the basic principle of the energy trilemma – to guarantee the reliability of the supply of electricity to users, to produce sustainable energy at an affordable cost, and to reduce the carbon footprint of the national electricity supply system,” he said.

On Thursday, the government launched NETR Phase 1 with 10 key catalyst initiatives as well as six key energy transition drivers – energy efficiency, renewable energy, hydrogen, bioenergy, green mobility, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

Among the high-impact projects under NETR Phase 1 is the development of a floating solar garden with a potential capacity of 2,500MW at the Tenaga Nasional Bhd dam for electricity generation and energy storage, as well as the construction of 4.5MW solar rooftops for houses, with a capacity of up to 10kW per unit.

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli in launching NETR Phase 1 reportedly said the execution of the plan will open up investment opportunities of between RM435 billion and RM1.85 trillion by 2050.

For NETR Phase 1, the total committed investment is worth RM25 billion, which is expected to create about 23,000 high-impact and high-quality jobs in addition to reducing 10,000 gigagrams of carbon dioxide-equivalent annually.

Nik Nazmi said his ministry will ensure the electricity capacity of the national grid is increased in line with the commitment to increase renewable energy capacities to support the implementation of the roadmap.

The projects and initiatives will run until 2040. They are expected to support the ministry’s aim to increase the mix of renewable energy capacity in electricity supply to 70%, and meet the country’s net-zero goal by 2050. – Bernama, July 30, 2023.