The first locally-produced battery energy storage system (BESS) product in Malaysia will support the energy transition and boost competitiveness in high tech industry sectors, a government minister has said.
The country’s Minister of International Trade and Industry, Zafrul Tengku Aziz, was in attendance yesterday as MYBESS, an end-to-end solution for renewable energy storage, was launched.
The two Malaysian companies behind it – engineering, energy and manufacturing conglomerate Citaglobal and industrial automation group Genetec Technology – showcased the 1MW prototype MYBESS at a Genetec production plant in the town of Bangi, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Developed and produced through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Citaglobal Genetec BESS, the prototype is fully operational since a pilot project began in December last year, helping optimise the Genetec plant’s energy use.
Their collaboration was formalised last October, with the parties agreeing to develop battery management system (BMS) and energy management system (EMS) technologies, aiming at maximising the large-scale and large capacity storage of energy. At the same time they have developed a product that is portable and capable of deployment in various scenarios, which could help Malaysia with rural electrification efforts, the companies claimed.
Malaysia has set a net zero deadline of 2050, and through the government’s New Investment Policy, will strengthen its ESG adoption, and rethinking “how we generate, distribute, store, supply and consume energy,” is a key part of that, minister Aziz said.
“To this end, the development of Malaysia’s homegrown MYBESS, by Citaglobal Genetec BESS, is not only a step in the right direction in support of Malaysia’s future (renewable) energy security, but also an important opportunity to begin positioning Malaysia in high-technology industries and higher in the global value chain,” Aziz said, citing that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will take “bold steps” to enhance Malaysia’s “industrial ecosystem,” when it launches a national New Industrial Master Plan 2030, later this year.
The minister’s words somewhat echo the words of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who recently said it is “vital” for Malaysia’s neighbour to incorporate energy storage into the framework of its energy sector. According to various sources Energy-Storage.news has spoken to, including DNV’s energy storage lead for the APAC region, George Garabandic, Southeast Asia has seen an uptick in investments into energy storage over the past couple of years.
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