Govt mulls new rooftop solar mechanism, adds 100MW residential quota

• The additional NEM 3.0 quota, under NEM Rakyat, will be available until June 30 or until the new capacity is fully allocated, whichever occurs first, Petra said in the statement.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): The government has added another 100 megawatts (MW) to the rooftop solar quota under the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Rakyat programme, two days after the existing 600MW quota was fully dished out.

According to a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (Petra) and industry regulator Energy Commission are also reviewing potential new frameworks and mechanisms for future rooftop solar programmes "to ensure that the upcoming renewable energy initiatives are more inclusive and equitable and beneficial to all electricity users".

The additional NEM 3.0 quota, under NEM Rakyat, will be available until June 30 or until the new capacity is fully allocated, whichever occurs first, Petra said in the statement.

Beyond the NEM Rakyat scheme, domestic consumers interested in installing solar systems have alternative options. These include the solar for self-consumption (SelCo) programme, which allows homeowners to use generated solar energy for their own consumption without exporting surplus electricity to the grid. 

Unlike the SelCo model, which does not allow the sale or offsetting of excess electricity, the NEM programme enables consumers to offset future electricity consumption with surplus solar energy generated, over a period of up to one year. 

Additionally, newer schemes such as the community renewable energy aggregation mechanism (CREAM) have been introduced, where solar energy aggregators can rent rooftop space from households and sell the power to commercial consumers, while paying a network infrastructure usage charge of 15 sen per kilowatt-hour (kWh). 

Petra reiterated its commitment to leading Malaysia's energy transition efforts, with rooftop solar initiatives playing a central role in achieving the national target of 70% renewable energy capacity in the electricity supply mix by 2050. This goal reflects a key aspect of Malaysia’s sustainable development strategy and environmental responsibility, consistent with the principles of the Madani Malaysia framework. 

The NEM Rakyat programme is one of three main components under the broader NEM 3.0 framework, which also targets solar adoption across government, and commercial and industrial sectors.

The C&I segment under NEM Nova still has a quota of 524.65MW remaining of 1,700MW made available, while the NEM GoMEn quota has 17.2MW remaining, from the 100MW provided.

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