Dear Readers,

Happy New Year 2010!

Today, we embrace this New Year with great hopes that 2010 would be a defining year not only to solar energy, but to all indigenous renewable energies in Malaysia. The momentum is certainly picking up. On the other hand, many of us are still unaware of the efforts and plans which are being put forward, and thus we are still working within our own circles. There is a need for us to interact a lot more and focus on the bigger picture to prioritise RE agenda through the Renewable Energy Act 2010. The proposed act is not the only solution but it provides a mean to prioritise the RE agenda in this country and correct all the past mistakes. Let’s make the act a reality and not just an empty promise.

2009 certainly taught me something significant through my interaction with two great people, Dr Hermann Scheer and Mr Hans-Josef Fell. If you are not familiar with the names, please Google them. Here are their two key messages that I wish to share with you:

1)      Renewable energy and energy efficiency can displace fossil fuels in our future energy demand. 90% plus of our energy planners and engineers today are trained to think with fossil fuel as the core energy supply. Thus, we need to break this mind set. This requires a paradigm shift for our new breed of energy planners and engineers to plan with distributed power generations (ie RE) coupled with EE and smart grids as the core. There is no need for a base load power. Instead energy is generated when it is needed and closest to the point of the demand.

2)      Renewable energy is about distributing the wealth and choice to the people. This means letting go the central power or control, and trusting the people with the power to make the decision, and benefiting from such decision.

Is Malaysia ready to embrace such future? I believe so, but all of us need to ensure that the right people with the right competency are entrusted with such responsibility. Such leaders need to be accountable and transparent in their actions, while we need to trust their judgements to lead. Nevertheless, we have the most important role to ensure that the right people become these leaders. Thus, we shall look forward and not be afraid to put down our opinions on the 'official' appointment of such leaders in 2010, who will then lead us to this new greener future. Often we take this for granted or we take too long to decide because we are afraid to make a decision or give a constructive comment. 2010 is the year to change and make this right!

May 2010 be a prosperous year to us all.

Best wishes,

Hadri

1^st January 2010

Previous message:

Salam Sejahtera,

We just concluded the 2nd National PV Conference last Tuesday (17th Nov 2009). The forum went very well with overwhelming attendance (almost 1200 participants). The highlight of the day was certainly the speech by Dr Hermann Scheer. In fact, throughout his 1 day visit, Dr Scheer gave 3 speeches, 2 interviews and had several private discussions. Many people have approached me saying that Dr Scheer is truly an exceptional person and how the PV conference was a great success. The anticipation for the next PV conference is certainly very high, in particular towards the beginning of a new era for RE in Malaysia with the feed-in tariff. But will the feed-in tariff really happen? Well, the signs are good but we still need to get the final endorsement from the Cabinet and for the RE Act to be passed in Parliament. We certainly need the backing of the Members of Parliament. Thus, please pass the message of Dr Scheer to others who were not present at the conference, and convince our MPs to strongly support such proposal in the Parliament. All of us need to do our part to make this great hope becomes a reality next year.