Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE PALACE OF THE GOLDEN HORSES
HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 08/06/99
Tajuk/Title : THE WORLD RENEWABLE ENERGY
CONGRESS 1999
"Alternative Energy Options: Challenges and
Opportunities"
I would like to thank the Ministry of Energy,
Communication and Multimedia for inviting me to
officiate the World Renewable Energy Congress 1999
Malaysia today. It is indeed an honour and a great
pleasure to speak before this gathering of energy
experts from all over the world. I wish to bid a warm
welcome or 'Selamat Datang' to all the distinguished
foreign participants and wish them a pleasant stay in
Malaysia.
2. Energy is vital to human progress. But there is
a cost that is not confined to just finance in order to
make energy available for human development. The more
important cost is the effect of energy generation on
the environment. Admittedly, we cannot get something
for nothing. And so we cannot get energy without
paying a price, in terms of finance and in terms of
environmental degradation. But we can at least reduce
the cost, not so much in monetary terms but more in
terms of the effect on the environment. Today almost
everyone favours higher financial cost than higher
environmental cost. I say almost everyone because when
people are very poor, they cannot be blamed if they
care less for the environment than for the money they
have to spend. We really cannot blame the poor from
cutting down timber to burn for their energy needs.
They cannot be expected to freeze to death or to eat
uncooked food because the rich object to trees being
cut and smoke from wood-burning to pollute the
environment.
3. We should therefore get our priorities right. If
we feel that even the poor should not pollute the
environment, then the rich should be prepared to pay
for them. At the Rio Summit in 1992, we agreed that
the rich must contribute towards the poor countries in
order that they will not cut down their trees etc to
develop their countries and their people. But as we
all know the contribution is not forthcoming. Yet
their environmentalists, particularly their NGOs are
relentless in their condemnation and action against
those who have little choice but to exploit their few
natural resources.
4. Poor countries and even middle-income countries
have a duty to develop and bring a better life to their
people. While we are debating which fuel mix is most
sustainable for a better life style, the United Nations
statistics show that more than 2.4 billion people in
developing countries do not have any access to
commercial energy. This means that almost 40 percent
of the world's population has inadequate energy for
basic needs. A World Solar Commission report pointed
out that these people not only have no access to power
distribution networks, but cannot expect to have access
to them in the medium term. This alone will impede
development and progress. When we speak of sustainable
development, we must also think of equity. Climate
change will be meaningless if there is great
disparity in emission levels between developed and
developing countries. Sustainable development must help
to reverse environmental degradation without
impoverishing the poor any further.
5. Renewable energy can be justified based on the
fundamental objectives of national energy policies
whose main goal is to ensure security and
sustainability of energy supply at reasonable cost.
Sustainability naturally implies efficient utilisation
and the wider applications of environmentally-friendly
technologies. And the best assurance of energy supply
security and sustainability is to develop and use the
country's own energy resources. On this basis,
indigenous renewable energy sources can be easily
justified, but they must be at reasonable cost. If
costs are high, it will not interest industry and
business leaders, unless the Government is willing to
subsidise the price. Within the constraints of cost, a
major challenge, therefore, is for policymakers and
planners to formulate institutional and enabling
regulatory framework to facilitate private sector
involvement in renewable energy development. In this
context the richer developed countries must recognise
the need for developing countries to have access to
renewable energy technologies at subsidised or at least
affordable prices. Only then can we overcome barriers
to sustainable development.
6. I would also like to highlight a major initiative
of the World Solar Commission, of which Malaysia is a
member. The Commission held its first World Solar
Summit in 1996 in Harare. This Summit had launched the
preparation of a ten-year World Solar Programme on the
basis of an outline plan submitted to it by the
Commission. Following elaborate consultations with
Governments, non-governmental organisations,
international agencies and business leaders, the World
Solar Programme, which identifies implementation
strategies at the global, regional and national levels,
was finalised in June 1997. This programme
particularly offers realistic renewable energy
alternatives to the rural communities in developing
countries where grid connection is prohibitively
expensive and not seen as possible for a long time to
come.
7. It is hoped that the World Renewable Energy
Network will work hand-in-hand with the World Solar
Commission and the global community in providing the
necessary R&D and rapid commercialisation support for
the World Solar Programme. To promote greater
utilisation of renewable energy technologies, we must
complement each other. In this way, we will not only
offer a realistic hope of economic progress to the 2.4
billion people in the developing world, but will also
address issues relating to global climate change.
8. In line with our commitment to the Rio Summit,
Malaysia signed the Framework Convention on Climate
Change in 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol early this year.
Notwithstanding the current financial crisis, Malaysia
is positive and willing to contribute and play its role
in seeking the way forward for a sustainable solution
to the concerns of climate change and the economic and
social development of our people.
9. For almost two decades, Malaysia has devoted
substantial resources towards the development of
diverse power generation systems. This is in order to
help stabilise electricity prices, reduce the
environmental impacts of electricity production and
support research & development in renewable energy and
energy efficiency as alternative energy options. It is
now timely to accelerate and make necessary
preparations to bring these 'fringe' but unique
domestic energy options into the mainstream. The
technological solutions to harness these options also
offer an opportunity for mass production in Malaysia
for domestic use and export, thereby offering an
opportunity for cost reductions.
10. In this regard, I am happy to announce our plan
to study the merits of expanding our current four-fuel
strategy by incorporating renewable energy as the fifth
fuel. In fact, this Congress comes at the most
opportune time as we assess our National Energy Policy
towards developing a more sustainable national energy
system. The next five-year national development plan,
the Eighth Malaysia Plan, will identify appropriate
implementation strategies for the development and
utilisation of renewable energy sources as an important
component of our total energy mix. As a unique
domestic resource, recurring savings from energy
efficiency programmes will also qualify as renewable
energy.
11. Currently, the success of the four-fuel strategy,
that includes oil, gas, hydro and coal, is obvious in
the electricity sector as shown by the high growth in
electricity consumption over the last two decades.
Today, the environmentally friendlier gas accounts for
over 70 percent of the country's total electricity
generation. However, too much reliance on gas is
obviously not wise in the long term. We have to fall
back on truly renewable energy source such as hydro.
As I have pointed out, we cannot get something for
nothing. Hydro power requires some sacrifice in terms
of deforestation. But Malaysia is 70 percent covered
by forest and tree plantation. The actual areas to be
cleared would not affect this percentage much. Yet the
electricity generation is less polluting than even gas.
12. Concerted and co-ordinated efforts must therefore
be put into motion to begin pre-commercialisation
demonstration projects to evaluate the economic
viability and ease of implementation of the more
promising renewable energy technologies. In this
regard, the Government has established a special
purpose vehicle, Pusat Tenaga Malaysia (PTM) or
Malaysia Energy Centre, to promote and coordinate these
efforts among the public and private sectors. This
Centre will play an important role to bridge R&D and
commercialisation of renewable energy technologies and
work with international organisations to build the
necessary capacity to implement market-oriented
renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes.
13. I must also commend the trustees of the Malaysian
Electricity Supply Industry Trust Account (MESITA) for
their generosity to contribute substantial funding
towards energy efficiency and renewable energy research
projects despite current financial difficulties. For
the information of our distinguished foreign
participants, MESITA was set up in 1997 to serve as the
industry's machinery to meet its social and national
obligations. All power generation companies contribute
annually, on a voluntary basis, one percent of their
total generation revenue towards MESITA. MESITA's top
priority is rural electrification. In addition, MESITA
also supports projects on energy efficiency, R&D in
renewable energy and human resource development for the
electricity industry.
14. While we act locally, we must also think
globally. In line with our commitment to the World
Solar Programme, we must work closely with the World
Solar Commission to promote the Programme globally.
Through the generosity of MESITA, Malaysia has
contributed to the World Solar Commission Trust Fund to
enable the Commission to implement the World Solar
Programme. Besides offering to host the Business and
Investment Forum for Renewable Energy in the Asia and
the Pacific Region, Malaysia is also keen to set up a
regional network for Education, Training and
Information Dissemination for renewable energy. This
network will support the global network being set up by
the World Solar Commission Secretariat based in Paris.
We will work with countries in the Asia and the Pacific
region with the support of bilateral and multilateral
technical support agencies to set up this virtual
network.
15. On this note, I hereby officially declare open
the World Renewable Energy Congress 1999 Malaysia.
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