Prospect of clean coal for sustainable energy mix in Malaysia

Abstract

This study evaluates the current energy diversification policy in Malaysia and proposes clean coal as an alternative to address the environmental issues and economic sustainability concerns in the power generation sector. In order to clearly picture the competitiveness of the proposed alternative, this study explored two scenarios, namely, Scenario a and Scenario b. The former scenario acts as a baseline, where the conventional coal is consumed for power generation; while the latter scenario looks at the prospect of substituting the conventional coal with clean coal by 5%, 10% and 15%. Mixed with four other energy sources specified in the Five-Fuel Diversification Strategy for power generation, the total amount of GHG that would be generated is estimated for both scenarios. It was found that the substitution approach could reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission significantly by 63%, from 823,498 kilotonne (kt) to 305,288 kt in year 2020. The findings highlight the potential of clean coal as a healthy alternative in reaching the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)'s target on GHG emission reduction. The results would lessen the gap between the GHG mitigation potential and INDC target, and aid in the formulation of effective energy strategy for power generation in Malaysia.