Feasibility of marine renewable energy to the Feed-in Tariff system in Malaysia

Marine renewable energy (MRE) is yet to be included in the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) system in Malaysia. However, the country is surrounded by the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea, making it suitable to harness energy in the water. Financial supports from the government are essential in developing this technology. This paper aimed to suggest appropriate FiT rates of MRE based on Net Present Value (NPV) approach. Meanwhile, the proposed FiT rates were compared with other implemented FiT rates of MRE in United Kingdom, Germany, France, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Korea. The results showed that reasonable FiT rates of MRE in Malaysia should be in the range of 0.06-0.60/kWh depending on the type of MRE technology used. The proposed tariffs were exceedingly higher than the implemented FiT rates of solar photovoltaic ranging from (sic)0.20 to 0.28/kWh due to higher project cost. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.