Malaysia energy strategy towards sustainability: A panoramic overview of the benefits and challenges

Abstract

Sustainable energy supply is essential for actualizing Malaysia's vision to become a high-income country. The current power production and demand trends show that Malaysia has a reserve margin that will only last for the next few years. This calls for further investment, research and development in the country's power sector in order to meet the ever increasing energy demand. The government's diversification policy and power sector expansion plan emphasizes on the incorporation of renewable energy sources (RESs) and other less CO2 emitting sources like nuclear into the national energy mix. However, the environmental ramifications of this policy should be part of any future expansion plan of national grid. This paper presents a panoramic overview of the Malaysian energy sector, the energy policy revolution and the power sector expansion strategy towards secure sustainability. We want to bring into focus the benefits and challenges of Malaysia's power sector expansion plan with the aim of stimulating further discussion and research on the environmental ramifications of the plan.