Introduction
The Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), through the Energy Commission (“EC“), has launched an open bidding program for the acquisition of Battery Energy Storage System (“BESS“) capacity through the Request for Qualification (“RFQ“) process.
The RFQ process is an initial screening stage aimed at obtaining qualification information from interested companies or consortiums. Only parties that meet the qualification criteria will be shortlisted to participate in the next stage, which is the Request for Proposal. In this regard, EC has issued the following documents:
BESS Project
The BESS project will be divided into four separate projects, each with a capacity of 100MW/400MWh. Each project is scheduled to begin full operation in 2026. The total capacity to be acquired is 400MW/1,600MWh.
In this regard, EC invites companies or consortiums that are experienced in implementing projects related to energy generation, and have the technical and financial capabilities to develop, finance, and operate energy storage systems to participate in the BESS project.
RFQ Documents
The sale of the RFQ documents started on 29 November 2024 at 9.00 am and will end on 13 December 2024 at 5.00 pm. The purchase can be made online via the EC’s website. The price of each RFQ document is RM3,000.
Companies that are interested to purchase the RFP documents shall make payment to EC via online transfer to the EC’s bank account. Payments made after 5.00pm on 13 December 2024 will not be accepted by EC.
The proof of payment (receipt of online transfer) together with the completed RFQ Document Buyer Information Form and RFQ Document Purchase Payment Information Form shall be sent via email to bess@st.gov.my.
It must be noted that only companies which have purchased the RFQ documents and those with details listed in the forms mentioned above are eligible to participate in the programme. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the unsuccessful purchase of the RFQ documents.
A receipt and link to download the RFQ documents will be provided via email to the RFQ documents purchasers within one to three working days (between 9.00 am to 5.00 pm) after payment is confirmed by EC. If the payment transaction is not successful within the one to three-working day period after the purchase notification email is received by EC, an email rejecting the RFQ documents purchase application will be issued.
Submission of complete RFQ documents should not be later than 12 February 2025 at 5.00 pm. The mechanism for submitting RFQ documents will be announced via the EC website.
Conclusion
Based on the documents issued by EC to-date, it is unclear if there is any restriction on foreign participation in the BESS project. The restrictions (if any) may be contained in the RFQ documents. Nevertheless, given that the development of BESS projects in Malaysia is still at an early stage, participation of foreign players with experiences in energy storage system projects may be crucial to support and encourage further projects of the same nature to be developed in the Malaysia energy market in the future.
The inaugural development of public BESS project in Malaysia is part of the Government’s efforts to support the energy transition and achieve the goals of increasing the country’s installed renewable energy capacity to 70% and to achieve net-zero by 2050. This may be the beginning of a significant step taken by Malaysia in achieving such goals given that BESS is labelled as one of the unproven markets in the National Energy Transition Roadmap published by the Ministry of Economy. If this inaugural public BESS project turns out to be a success, the Government may further venture into other unproven markets such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage, green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel.
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