A total of 12 Malaysian projects have won the ASEAN Energy Awards (AEA) 2023 for the adoption of sustainable energy practices. In a statement on Aug 26, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change said the AEA 2023 awards ceremony was held in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the recently concluded 41st Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (Amem).

Tenaga Nasional Bhd(TNB) has set in motion plans to support the country’s net-zero aspirations, said chairman Datuk Abdul Razak Abdul Majid. He said this encapsulates concerted planning on generation decarbonisation, enabling flexible renewable energy (RE), cross-border grid exchanges and empowering cross-sectorial electrification and prosumer participation.

The Malaysian government will proceed with the establishment of the National Energy Council, said Economy Minister Mohd Rafizi Ramli, in order to facilitate the implementation of the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR). The council will be chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, with the Ministry of Economy as the secretariat, Rafizi said at the launch of the second phase of the NETR here.

The government has not ruled out the use of nuclear energy to achieve Malaysia’s energy transition targets, according to Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli, as well as Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. When asked whether nuclear energy has a role in Malaysia’s energy transition plans during a session at the Energy Transition Conference on Tuesday (Aug 29), Rafizi replied in the affirmative, adding that he thinks nuclear energy will be a part of the nation’s plan in time.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on August 18 launched a project to promote the economical and efficient use of energy in supporting and food processing industries in Vietnam. The two-year project was funded by the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) and will be carried out by VCCI. The overall objective of the project is to raise awareness in the two industries, support business access to finance for investments and the economical and efficient use of energy.

China's plan to set up a recycling system for obsolete wind turbines and solar panels is likely to be a lucrative market in the country, which is well placed to become a global hub for the recycling of several forms of outdated green energy equipment. China has been the clear leader in renewable energy production for more than a decade, and in 2022 generated over twice the amount of electricity from solar power and 75% more wind-powered electricity than the United States, the second largest green energy producer, according to Ember.

Embracing solar energy is not just a conscious effort toward an environmentally sustainable future, but also an energy-saving investment for homeowners and businesses to cut down on their electricity bills. From rooftop installations to sprawling solar farms, photovoltaic (PV) panels are revolutionising how we generate electricity, paving the way for a cleaner and more resilient future.     

Thai state-owned oil and gas group PTT will start making and selling electric motorcycles this year, hoping to bank on Southeast Asia's rapidly electrifying two-wheeler market, the world's largest after China and India. Arun Plus, PTT's subsidiary in charge of making electric vehicles and batteries, will establish a joint venture with Kymco, Taiwan's leading two-wheeler manufacturer, by the end of this year, according to PTT documents submitted to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The new company, called Aionex, is capitalized at 600 million baht ($17 million).

Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) (PGEO.JK), a unit of Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina, has signed initial agreements with two Kenyan companies to explore partnerships in geothermal power projects, Indonesia's foreign minister said. PGE signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Geothermal Development Company to explore a partnership that could be worth $1.5 billion, and a separate MoU with Africa Geothermal International No. 1 Ltd (AGIL No. 1) for a potentially $700 million deal, Retno Marsudi said.

Solar power is quite possibly the energy source of the future, and in the technology’s most futuristic breakthrough yet, scientists have just figured out how to beam solar power from outer space to Earth for the first time. The advantages of beaming solar power from space instead of simply collecting it with solar panels here on Earth, the way we currently do, are vast. On Earth, solar energy can be harvested only when the sun is shining, i.e., during the daytime and when there aren’t too many clouds. In some places, that renders solar panels fairly ineffective.

A group of scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have announced the creation of innovative smart clothing capable of transforming mechanical energy from friction or glucose found in sweat, which is produced during human activity, into usable electrical energy. With the emergence of smart clothing blending fashion and information technology (IT), there has been a growing fascination with alternative energy sources to fuel these garments beyond traditional batteries.

Malaysia is on track to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, albeit funding is needed to upgrade the current domestic infrastructure to attract foreign investors, according to Energy Industries Council (EIC) Asia Pacific regional director Azman Nasir. “Malaysia can achieve its net zero carbon emission by 2050, but it depends on what else we are going to do,” he told reporters at the Oil and Gas Asia 2023 (OGA) event today.