Malaysian energy regulator Suruhanjaya Tenaga has published new guidelines defining the requirements for the installation of residential rooftop systems under the NEM Rakyat and NEM GoMEn net metering schemes in Peninsular Malaysia.

Eligible applicants must generally be consumers of national utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and install the solar PV system on the rooftop of the same premises.

For NEM Rakyat, system capacity is limited to 5 kWac for single-phase and 12.5 kWac for three-phase residential connections, while NEM GoMEn allows systems of up to 1,000 kW, subject to technical and network limitations.

The electricity generated is first used by the premises, with excess generation exported to the TNB grid. This excess is credited against electricity consumption on a 1:1 basis and may be carried forward for up to 12 months. The NEM arrangement is valid for 10 years, after which the system operates under self-consumption without NEM offsets.

Larger installations above 72 kW require a NEM Assessment Study, while all systems must comply with applicable electrical, safety, technical, and TNB connection requirements.

The two net metering schemes were updated in early July. The Malaysian government said about 1.7 GW of PV systems are currently operating under the two programs, with an additional 595 MW under development.

Net metering replaced the country’s feed-in tariff incentive in January 2016. In May 2017, the government revised the system to boost adoption after limited interest from homeowners. NEM 2.0 launched in January 2019 and ended in December 2020. NEM 3.0 began in December 2020 with a total quota of 2.5 GW.