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Renewables

Q&A: How Vietnam went from Zero to Hero in Developing Solar Projects and What Other Countries Can Do for Climate Change

2 October 2019

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Vietnam

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 2019 (IPS) – A week ago, downtown New York witnessed one of the most historic moments in the climate action moment — hundreds of thousands of people attended the Climate Strike, where teen activists delivered powerful speeches and blows to world leaders for not taking climate change seriously.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman Director-General of the treaty-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), attended the strike — but for him, it wasn’t just about that one moment. As someone who’s worked in sustainable development for more than three decades, this was a long time coming. And upon his return to Seoul, South Korea, where GGGI is headquartered, his 10-year-old son will skip school on Friday to attend the Climate Strike there

During an intense week in New York as the United Nations General Assembly convenes, where climate action is at the centre of the debate this year, Rijsberman sat down with IPS for a brief chat on what the next decade will bring in the climate action momentum, and what role GGGI will play. Excerpts of the interview follow:

Inter Press Service (IPS): Given the current climate at this year’s UNGA, there’s a lot more momentum on climate action, so where does GGGI’s work stand?

Dr. Frank Rijsberman (FR): I read quite a few negative stories about the summit yesterday [Monday] but I don’t quite see it that way, particularly now I think we have some 70 countries committed to Net Zero by 2050 up from like 20 last year. I think more and more countries signing on to that.

Some journalists are taking on the fact that the leaders who are signing on to those targets don’t know exactly how to achieve those but, I was in a few meetings with the Danish Prime Minister who made the Net Zero commitment and a 70 percent reduction by 2030 commitment, which is one of the strongest targets. And she admitted, that we don’t know how to get there. She actually turned around and said, “If we knew exactly how to get there then our target wouldn’t be ambitious enough because we ought to develop new technology.”

You create the target and then you go to work on how to achieve it. I think that’s the positive side of that story and then we see a lot of initiatives that are all pointed on that from clean energy investment accelerators, initiatives around accelerating energy efficiency up to 3 percent per year, doubling the current rates so there are a lot of initiatives that are contributing and all of it are leaning to supporting and enabling countries to come up with more ambitious targets by the COP next year in Glasgow.

It would’ve been nice if there were a lot of binding commitments shared yesterday in the climate summit but I would see this more as a stepping stone to urge countries to be ready with those commitments next year and frankly the speed with which countries sign up to the Net Zero target is pretty impressive.

IPS: Do you think there’s as better response from countries this year than previous years?

FR: Last year was 20, now it’s 70 countries that have committed to Net Zero.

There are more countries now that are recognising there’s a climate crisis – they no longer [talk about] climate change, this neutral language. They’re talking about the climate crisis and emergency and responding to it like that with the laws, climate laws, and then we’re going to have to go figure out how to do that which is not so easy but not so impossible either.

IPS: These are developed countries, so where do developing countries fit in?

FR: Our members are all the way from Denmark to Qatar and [the United Arab Emeritus] UAE down to countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. So, leaders are on one hand clearly the Denmarks and the UKs of the world and on the other hand we worked with Fiji to come up with their lower development strategy 2050.

In between, there are countries like Indonesia and Vietnam who are really struggling because they are the ones that have a lot of coal and have developed their industry very successfully based on coal and fossil fuel. They’re the ones that are going to have to make the most difficult choices. They don’t have a lot of money, they feel they can’t afford it but yes they’re confronted with air pollution.

I think the best, most helpful example was China. In China, people were fed up with never seeing blue skies and having to wear air pollution masks. Air pollution and health concerns of the citizen are driving a lot of the investments in clean energy in Asia. And of course what you do for blue skies and for air pollution, you also do for the climate.

In a country like Vietnam, for instance, last year our story was that Vietnam was the country with the largest number of new coal fire power plants. They were going to build 25 new coal fire plants. And then the government came out with a new policy – [companies] get offered a [tariff] for large-scale solar.

Vietnam had a target to reach 4.5GW of solar then by 2025. This is a lot if you have nothing.

The target was to be reached by 2025, and to everybody’s surprise they reached that on the 1st of July this year.

From nothing to 4.5GW — and not plans, not ideas but projects that are already built and connected to the grid.

So, what happened to India in 2017, that the country was going to build all those coal fire power plants, and then they did these major renewable energy auctions, and they found the price of solar is lower than building coal fire power plants. In 2017, India scrapped the idea of building new coal fire power plants.

Of course they still have a lot of coal fire power plants and they haven’t closed them. And that was the disappointment that Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi didn’t say anything about how he’s going to close them but they’re no longer going to build new ones because solar is cheaper.

So that has happened this year in Vietnam and that should happen next year (but hasn’t happened yet) in Indonesia.

IPS: Price of solar — there’s a myth that adopting these practices cost more but clearly they’re being demystified now. Is there a better awareness among countries now?

FR: Well, gradually. Vietnam believes it, but Indonesia not yet. When we go to Indonesia, we’re still working hard on awareness. Vietnam doesn’t really have as much awareness in pollution. In Seoul, people wear masks when the air is bad. You go to Vietnam, people aren’t wearing masks so you think the air must be better here. But no, the air is just as bad — people just don’t know about it yet.

So I think raising awareness of both the negative impacts of air pollution, climate change and that there are solutions that are commercially attractive is still a big part of the job.

That’s why there’s still work for organisations like ours, spreading these stories, showing the examples, helping the government develop the right policy framework and bringing in investors as well.

IPS: Are investors on board?

FR: Yes, so I was in a number of events here. We’ve been saying the billions of dollars can come from development aid, the trillions of dollars have to come from pension funds and private sector.

If you’re paying into your pension fund you want your savings to be invested in a solid place, so your retirement is still there. So they’re the lowest risk investors.

But in Denmark, the pension fund has invested something like 15 billion dollars in their offshore wind industry and they’re not confident that in the next 10 years, they can invest 50 billion dollars in renewable energy. Just small Denmark, their pension fund, that’s where the trillions of dollars sit.

We may raise 10 billion dollars for the Green Climate Fund. Pension Denmark by itself will invest 50 billion dollars so the numbers indeed in the private sector are in trillions and they’re beginning to be mobilised.

So our work is showing that in the emerging markets that are also good investment opportunities for pension funds like Pension Denmark, and the role of the Danish government is to help Pension Denmark feel good enough about their investments in say, Africa, that they’ll risk their money so that the credit guarantee can come from Danish government as part of development aid and the money can come from the pension funds. That’s where the big money is.

So our job is to use the billions of development aid to mobilise the trillions from the private sector and institutional investors. And one of the most hopeful signs is that we can see that that is now starting to happen.

IPS: We’re now entering a new decade. What is GGGI’s plans for what’s ahead?

FR: We’re making our strategy 2030 and of course our goal is to support our member countries to be leaders in this green transition. Some of our members like Denmark really are and they are really interested in helping our other members like Ethiopia and Indonesia to implement the green transition as well.

So our mission remains to use the experience and the money of some our contributing members to help accelerate the green transition in the other countries. We are pretty optimistic, pretty positive that there is great potential for that.

In the last two years we have mobilised about a billion dollars in green and climate finance for our members and now we have a target for 2030….to mobilise 16 billion dollars in climate finance and if we do that, then through our action that would save a gigaton in emissions, that would create two million new green jobs, that would provide sustainable services for 300 million people in green cities. So we have ambitious plans in line with the Paris agreement and SDGs to support our members to achieve those goals and targets.

IPS: What would you say are your challenges in negotiating with member countries?

FR: Among our high-income countries we have the real leaders like Denmark and Australia, then we have some African countries that are totally ready but they say we need financial help and then we all have Asian countries as we discussed who are all those Asian tigers, develop their economies based on not green but brown technologies.

So they are the ones that are the biggest challenge. But they do also have more money to invest like Vietnam, if they want to. So the challenges are a bit different in these different groups of our countries but bringing them together, and in a way organising a consensus, among our members that green transition is necessary and also feasible. That’s our job.

Energy Cooperation

Vietnam, US establish comprehensive energy cooperation partnership

2 October 2019

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Vietnam

Washington (VNA) – Vietnam and the US have set up a comprehensive energy cooperation partnership under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in Washington on September 30.

The document was inked by representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the US Department of State during a working trip to the US from September 30 to October 2 by a MoIT delegation.

The MoU is an important milestone in energy collaboration between the two countries, opening up a new page of more intensive and comprehensive cooperation.

The document covers various cooperation areas in the energy sector, ranging from energy security, energy market development and energy transformation to relevant regulations and policies, energy management and energy technology and infrastructure, including the role of public-private cooperation.

It establishes a clear collaboration framework and mechanism, thus facilitating specific partnerships between Vietnamese and US firms, towards the goal of sustainable energy development in Vietnam.

Both sides hoped that the document will create the foundation for the building of cooperation roadmaps in specific energy sectors.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), MoIT Minister Tran Tuan Anh highlighted the significance of the MoU as Vietnam needs to advance the domestic energy sector to fuel its fast-growing economy.

Vietnam, therefore, would be a major market for US investors, he said, noting that the Southeast Asian country considers the US an important partner not only because of the growing bilateral trade ties but also because of the US’s cutting-edge and environmentally-friendly technologies in energy and liquefied gas in particular.

Anh further explained that Vietnam is an energy importer and greatly relies on imported liquefied gas to ensure its energy security.

The signing of the MoU reflects joint efforts in outlining common goals and basic solutions to expand and deepen the mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two states, he said, adding that the document will create the most favourable conditions for businesses of both sides to exploit opportunities in the respective markets.

Francis R. Fannon, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Energy Resources at the US Department of State, said the MoU has created a clear and strong relationship.

The US regards this as the first step and looks forwards to the expansion of more cooperation areas in the future, he said.

According to Fannon, the US has programmes aiming to help foreign governments, including Vietnam, reach energy ambitions and people have many options on clean energy.

Such programmes have opened up opportunities for US private enterprises and improved their confidence in investing in Vietnam, he said.

Following the signing ceremony, Anh handed over a document of the MoIT to the US side, announcing that Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed to assign AES Corporation to be the major investor of the 5 billion USD Son My 2 Gas Power Plant under a BOT contract. Once operational, the plant will need to import nearly 2 billion USD worth of LNG from the US each year./.

Coal

Can Southeast Asia Ditch Coal?

2 October 2019

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ASEAN

The world’s dirtiest fossil fuel is in decline from the United States to western Europe. But in Southeast Asia coal has found one of its final frontiers: last year it was the only region where coal’s share of power generation grew. Yet the growing urgency of the climate crisis and increasingly affordable renewable power could help catalyze a regional shift away from the fuel towards cleaner energy.

Coal is the single biggest contributor to global warming. In 2018, one third of all carbon dioxide emissions came from burning it, said the International Energy Agency. Ending the use of coal-fired electricity is therefore critical to limit the rise in global heating to 1.5C and avoid catastrophic environmental breakdown. It’s why this week the UN Secretary General reiterated his appeal to world leaders that no new coal plants should be built after 2020.

But Southeast Asia, on paper at least, has other plans. Indonesia looks set to have the third-largest coal-fired power capacity of new plants under development after China and India. Vietnam, where the coal fleet has grown faster than in almost any other country, has the world’s fourth-largest pipeline for new coal. The fuel has long been viewed as the cheapest option to fuel a surging demand for electricity in Southeast Asia’s fast-growing economies. When it comes to renewable energy, ASEAN has been labelled the “worst-performing region” as renewables are typically dismissed as uncompetitive.

But change might be afoot. “It’s an absolute pivot point for renewables in Southeast Asia,” Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told The Diplomat. While the region “has been a laggard” on renewable energy he points to game-changing recent developments. “The finances are shifting to green globally. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand will all pivot over the next two years.” Vietnam, for instance, has seen a surge in solar power development in the last year alone.

“No-one forecast Vietnam can do that. That’s how quickly you can pivot markets,” said Buckley. Earlier this month an auction for a solar power project in Cambodia saw the lowest power purchase tariff for solar so far in Southeast Asia. The Asian Development Bank, which supports the scheme, described it as “a new era for renewable energy development in Cambodia and the region”.

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In a survey of regional leaders last year, media platform Eco-Business found “the ever-increasing risk of stranded fossil fuel assets” was another factor that would drive Southeast Asia’s transition to a greener economy. A big sign of the shifting financial backing for coal regionally came in April as three top Singapore banks said they would stop financing new coal-fired power plants. And in a June meet of Asian coal leaders in Indonesia, they talked of the difficulties of securing finances for projects. Some experts believe that the majority of proposed coal plants won’t emerge.

Yet it’s still a mammoth battle to end coal’s dominance. China, Japan and South Korea are filling the funding gap to finance new coal plants in the region even as other sources dry up. In August, environmental group Greenpeace highlighted the “deadly double standard” in a report about Japan’s financing of overseas coal-fired plants creating “air pollution at levels that would not be accepted” domestically. And a WWF study also published last month found that 91 percent of ASEAN banks still finance new coal-fired plants.

The spread of “clean coal” propaganda has proven to be another obstacle in developing actual clean energy in the region (a debate also playing out in Australia as it ramps up coal production at an alarming rate to “fuel a proposed new wave of power stations in Asia” as described here). “There is no such thing as clean coal,” said Buckley. “It’s the coal industry’s PR stunt.”

But it’s proving a handy justification for governments unwilling to abandon the fuel. In Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal, the idea of “clean coal is misleadingly projected as a mitigation step in fighting climate change, hindering the development of renewable energy,” said Hindun Mulaika, regional climate and energy coordinator for Greenpeace in Southeast Asia. The government should instead be working on policies to drive down the cost of renewables, strengthen regulations against emissions and remove fossil fuel subsidies, she told The Diplomat.

Anti-coal sentiment has been rising across the region. With growing calls for alternative energy from Jakarta to Hanoi, governments can no longer afford to ignore them. It’s a “tipping point” in Southeast Asia, said Justin Guay, director for global climate strategy at The Sunrise Project, an environmental group. “It’s the last major region on earth where we are seeing the transformation” away from coal and “it’s a question of when not if.”

“In many ways Southeast Asia reminds me of where India was five years ago,” he added. “They built a significant number of coal plants, but now they’ve got stranded assets. It’s a big problem. Southeast Asia has the opportunity to avoid that.”

The battle to stop countries digging and burning coal is at the core of the battle against climate disaster. Southeast Asia’s governments are at a unique crossroads. For a more resilient future for the region and the world, the hope is that they will abandon coal.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency important as VN power needs grow with economy: conference

2 October 2019

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Vietnam

HCM CITY — To meet its growing demand for energy, Việt Nam, besides exploiting new energy sources, particularly clean energy, needs to further improve energy saving and efficiency, a conference heard in HCM City yesterday.
Speaking at the conference titled Development of Energy Efficiency Projects, Nguyễn Thị Lam Giang, director general of the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development, said with rapid economic growth Việt Nam’s electricity demand was increasing rapidly.
Aware of the importance of energy saving, the country had implemented the Việt Nam National Energy Efficiency Programme (VNEEP) and achieved encouraging results, she said.
Phase 1 in 2006-10 and phase 2 in 2012-15 helped saved 3-4 per cent and 5.65 per cent, equivalent to 4.9 million and 11.2 million tonnes of oil, she said.
Under VNEEP 3 in 2019-30, approved last March, Việt Nam planned to reduce energy consumption by 5-7 per cent in 2019-25 and 8-10 per cent in 2019-30, she said.
“In addition to [local] efforts, the Vietnamese Government also receives support from many countries and non-governmental organisations to achieve the targets.
“The ‘Promoting Investment Market for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Sector in Việt Nam’ project is part of the co-operation between the governments of Việt Nam and South Korea to help Việt Nam implement the VNEEP3 programme and its sustainable development goals.”
Funded by the Korean Government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the project seeks to eliminate identified barriers to promote the development of energy services companies and create a conducive environment for implementing energy efficiency investment projects, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the environment.
Being implemented between December 2017 and December 2019, the project consists of three main components: building capacity for investment projects in energy saving and efficiency in the industrial sector, identifying energy saving and efficiency investment projects in the industrial sector and assisting the implementation of investment projects.
Kim Jinoh, country director of KOICA in Việt Nam, praised Việt Nam’s efforts to improve energy efficiency.
“The first and second phases of the VNEEP yielded certain results. The programme’s third phase has just started and will go on until 2030. KOICA wants to contribute to Việt Nam achieving its energy saving and efficiency targets.
“The conference aims to share knowledge and experience related to energy efficiency through the market mechanism, more importantly, useful information about financing sources and methods to identify energy efficiency projects.”
Kim Youngjun, project co-ordinator, said through analysis of energy-saving technologies used at 2,409 enterprises in the list of designated energy users, the project selected 10 industrial sites to conduct an energy audit under the supervision of South Korean experts.
Through the audits, experts proposed 108 energy-efficiency solutions, he said.
Implementing these solutions could save companies US$78,000 a year and reduce 606,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, Giang said.
Since they are estimated to cost around $200,000, the payback period is 2.6 years, according to Giang. — VNS
Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/536243/energy-efficiency-important-as-vn-power-needs-grow-with-economy-conference.html#37ALtgz2BtKhEYbY.99

Renewables

Vietnam plans large-scale installation of floating solar PV panels

2 October 2019

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Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed a $37 million loan agreement with Da NhimHam ThuanDa Mi Hydro Power Joint Stock Company (DHD) to finance the installation of a 47.5 megawatt (MW) peak floating photovoltaic (PV) solar power facility on the man-made reservoir of DHD’s existing 175 MW Da Mi hydropower plant.

The project marks the first large-scale installation of floating solar PV panels in Vietnam and the largest installation in Southeast Asia.

“This project will help to boost the share of renewable energy in Vietnam’s overall energy mix and decrease the dependence on imported fossil fuels such as coal,” ADB Private Sector Operations Department Deputy Director General Christopher Thieme said Wednesday. “The pairing of these two clean energy technologies, hydropower and solar, is a simple but a highly innovative achievement, which can be replicated elsewhere in Vietnam and across Asia and the Pacific.”

DHD, a subsidiary of the Vietnam Electricity Power Generation Corporation 1, currently owns and operates four hydropower plants: Da Mi (175 MW), Ham Thuan (300 MW), Da Nhim (160 MW), and Song Pha (7.5 MW). DHD’s total generation capacity is 642.5 MW, about 1.7% of Vietnam’s total generation capacity.

“We are proud to be the first company in Vietnam to construct a floating solar power plant on a hydropower reservoir,” the Chairman of the Board of DHD Nguyen Trong Oanh said Wednesday. “This project aligns with DHD’s strategy of investing in renewable energy to decrease dependence on fossil fuel, contribute to energy security, mitigate climate change, and promote environmental protection and sustainable socioeconomic development. Hydropower reservoirs in southern Vietnam have vast solar power potential. Capitalizing on the strong relationship between EVN and ADB, we have worked together to catalyze a new source of power for the country.”

The financing package includes a $17.6 million loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources. This is supplemented by $15 million of blended concessional cofinancing provided by the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia and its follow-on fund, the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II. These funds were established by the Canadian government to encourage private investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Asia and the Pacific.

The package also includes a $4.4 million parallel loan from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund, supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency through a $1.5 billion equity commitment.

(Pictured: DHD Chief Executive OfficerLe Van Quang and the Deputy Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department Christopher Thieme (front) with the signed agreement. Behind them are the Ambassador of Canada Deborah Paul (third from left, second row) and Senior Representative of JICA in Vietnam Shu Kitamura (second from left, second row), along with ADB private sector operations team members.

Oil & Gas

Thailand’s Gulf Energy and PTT to build $1.33 bln LNG project with the government

1 October 2019

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Thailand

BANGKOK, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Thailand’s Gulf Energy Development Pcl and state-owned PTT Pcl will build a 40.9 billion baht ($1.3 billion) gas terminal and port on the country’s east coast, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) said on Tuesday.

The government says its investment partnership with the Gulf MPT LNG Terminal Company Limited – a joint venture between a subsidiary of Gulf Energy with a 70% stake and a unit of PTT with a 30% stake – will bring more investment to the industrial east and boost economic growth.

Commercial operation of the project is scheduled to start by 2025.

The project will include the design and construction of the port and a liquefied natural gas terminal that will have an annual capacity of at least 5 million metric tons per year in the first phase and up to 10.8 million tons per year at a later stage, Gulf Energy said on Tuesday.

The project is “one of five mega infrastructure projects of the Eastern Economic Corridor,” and will help create a “seamless transportation network” between Thailand and neighbouring countries, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said.

Other mega infrastructure projects include a high-speed train linking two of Bangkok’s international airports with U-Tapao airport in eastern Thailand; the expansion of U-Tapao airport; and the expansion of the Lam Chabang deep sea port.

Thailand’s industrial east is already home to foreign auto manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda and Ford and also houses petrochemical and electronic companies.

$1 = 30.6600 baht Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Mark Potter

Others

Putrajaya to review carbon emission commitments next year

1 October 2019

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Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): The government is looking to review its carbon emissions commitments under the 2016 Paris Agreement.

Speaking at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit, Minister for Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin said the government would be reviewing its national determined commitment under the Paris Agreement.

“Our national determined commitment [under the Paris Agreement] is a 45% reduction in carbon emissions intensity relative 2005. This means by 2030, we want to reduce our carbon emission intensity, which means carbon emissions relative to gross domestic product, to 2005 levels,” Yeo said.

The review will take place at the next United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change next year.

As of today, Malaysia has reduced its carbon emissions intensity rate to 33%. The minister noted that Malaysia is at a comfortable level with its ability to meet the 45% target, and that the emissions target could be raised.

With regard to the global fight against climate change, Yeo emphasised that while it is everyone’s responsibility to combat climate change, there must be common but differentiated responsibilities.

“This means that more developed countries have to play their part in assessing climate change as well. If you want less developed countries to do more, you have to give them the assistance to do so,” she said.

Malaysia entered the Paris Agreement in 2016.

Renewables

Ministry should reconsider disbandment of MNPC

1 October 2019

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Malaysia

LETTER | The pre-dawn strike Sept 14 by twenty-five drones and missiles on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities, owned by state-run oil company Saudi Aramco, severely disrupted nearly half the kingdom’s estimated output of 9.7 million barrels and five percent of global production and sent oil price soaring.

The 1970s and 2007/2008 oil price hikes had triggered discussions on the need for Malaysia to consider investing in nuclear power.

After the oil crisis of the 1970s with the first oil shock triggered by the embargo by Opec in 1973-1974 increasing oil prices four-fold from US$3 to US$12 and the second oil shock prompted by the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the 2007/2008 unprecedented oil price hike up to nearly US$145 (RM 513) per barrel, many countries, including France and S Korea amongst others, had turned away from a high reliance on oil and made investments in alternative sources of energy including nuclear power.

Malaysia’s high reliance of fossil fuel for power generation; more than 50 percent on coal, more than 40 percent on natural gas, five percent on hydro and remaining on other sources including renewable energy plus its high importation of coal of more than 60 percent from Indonesia and more than 20 percent from Australia poses a risk for its energy supply and security.

Globally, this fossil fuel economy has caused the escalation of CO2 emissions. This increasing rise in CO2, primarily through fossil fuel burning has caused an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature, or global warming, and disruption in or the destabilising of Earth’s climate system or climate change creating environmental, social, health, economic and political chaos.

In 2008, Malaysia, too, explored nuclear energy as a long-term energy source for the nation and this was incorporated in Budget 2009 as part of the government’s long-term strategy to diversify the nation’s sources of energy as well as to enhance Malaysia’s energy security and mitigate climate change.

Plans to build two 1000 MWe nuclear power reactors, with the first unit in operation by 2021, were introduced in 2010, with the prerequisite of four conditions – there must be public acceptance of the project, Malaysia must ratify the relevant international treaties, the government must ensure that the correct regulatory framework is put in place and approvals for plan sites including from the local populace must be obtained.

It is anticipated that construction and operation of the nuclear power reactors will have significant impact on Malaysia’s economy, that during construction phase a GNI contribution of RM0.2 billion will be derived from the creation of 2,600 jobs and once operational, the twin unit reactors of 2GWe will generate GNI amounting to RM1.6 billion per year from the electricity generated

And to plan for the introduction of nuclear power in Malaysia, a Nuclear Energy Planning and Implementation Organisation (Nepio)- the Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) was established in January 2011 under the Prime Minister’s Department.

The Auditor-General’s Report of 2018 outlined that since its formation in 2011 till 2018, the MNPC had produced four studies and organised or implemented three (activities) utilising developmental grant of RM42.51 million.

The four studies include the Nuclear Power Programme Development Study, the Nuclear Power Project Development Study (Feasibility Study), the Law and Regulation Study and the Comprehensive Plan and Strategies for Public Communications on Nuclear Energy.

Furthermore, the Auditor-General’s report had highlighted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recognised seven employees of the MNPC as subject matter experts who had been invited to offer advice to the IAEA and selected member states interested to introduce a nuclear power programme. Thus it is evident that skills built up during the past eight years have contributed to the competency and professionalism of the team at MNPC

The auditor’s report had also recommended for the government to provide an opportunity for the MNPC to present/table their findings of all the studies to the Cabinet in view of the importance of alternative energy sources for long-term electricity supply for the country.

Instead, Putrajaya has decided to shut down the MNPC (their last day was yesterday) for reasons best known to them and not clearly conveyed to the MNPC nor the public.

This despite the fact that the MNPC had trained its officers who are now knowledgeable and experienced regarding the techno-political aspects of nuclear power as well as nuclear diplomacy which in general are not attributes nor the experience of researchers whose focus is primarily technology development. Thus communications, diplomacy and skills in negotiations are the forte of MNPC.

Hence, even if Malaysia is not planning to invest in a nuclear power programmes (NPP) or build nuclear power plants, a wide and extensive expertise in nuclear technology and nuclear power covering not just technology but most importantly Pestle (Politics/Policies, Enery+Economics+Environment, Science, Sociology, Technology, Legal and Ethics) must be developed and nurtured amongst Malaysians to get us ready for international meetings, diplomacy and negotiations in order to be competent, skilled and tactful when meeting and negotiating in the global arena.

Thus, it is within this context that I strongly recommend for the Minister of Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment to reverse and revise the decision to shut down the MNPC.

This is to ensure that these critical skills and competency invested and built over many years are not lost and will not put Malaysia at a disadvantage especially in nuclear politics and in particular if further oil shocks and energy crises require Malaysia to plan for nuclear power.

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