Background The global commitment to climate change mitigation enforces the worldwide development of renewable energy sources. Therefore, various studies have investigated the growth of renewable energy in Malaysia, most commonly based on biogas and hydropower. In this article, the dynamics of Malaysia’s renewable energy development is critically examined by using the latest official national reports and other reliable resources. Results The study reveals the influencing factors that shape renewable energy growth in a developing country endowed with substantial biomass resources, such as Malaysia. Likewise, it evaluates the evolution of renewable energy in the electricity sector. In 2017, renewable energy represented about 3.5% of the Malaysian electricity generation mix with 1122 MW of installed capacity. A closer look into the renewable energy resources, i.e. biomass, biogas, solar and small hydro power, revealed that over 47% of the grid-connected power generation came from solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. While solar PV capacity continues to accelerate, the development of other renewable resources, especially biomass, is seeing growth at a significantly slower pace. This article investigates the underlying causes of the skewed development rate as well as the potential strategies that may be adopted to promote a diversification of renewable energy resources. In light of this, introduction of a new national bioenergy policy is proposed, through which four essential programmes could be implemented: (i) enhanced bioenergy conversion efficiency and waste management, (ii) biomass co-firing in coal power plants, (iii) conversion of biogas to biomethane and bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG), (iv) large-scale biomass power plants. A total of 4487 MW of additional power could be connected to the grid upon successful implementation of a large-scale biomass power plant programme. Conclusions The establishment of a comprehensive and inclusive national bioenergy policy will lead towards a sustainable future of renewable energy development in Malaysia.

With the ever‐increasing danger of climate change, power plants are shifting from polluting fossil fuels to sustainable bioenergy fuels. As Malaysia continues to pledge to decrease glasshouse gas (GHG) emissions, quick and dramatic action should resolve the reliance on fossil fuel power plants. Furthermore, the coal‐fired power station is Malaysia's biggest supplier of energy and the final power plant to be decommissioned. In Malaysia, a significant portion of palm oil biomass has the potential to replace coal in the generation of renewable energy power. However, the deployment of palm oil biomass as a renewable energy source has not been fully achieved. Furthermore, the surplus of unutilized biomass from the palm oil milling process has emerged as the key talking point leading to environmental concerns. As estimated, this palm oil biomass can generate approximately 5000 MW of electricity under 40% of operation efficiency. This significant power potential has the ability to replace Malaysia's yearly reliance on coal. Nonetheless, the limitations of technological stability, budgetary constraints, and other government policy concerns have prevented the potentials from being fulfilled. This necessitates an integrated framework that synergizes the decarbonization drive in order to realize the primary advantages of energy renewability and carbon neutrality. Among the suggested actions to decarbonize the power generating sector is an integrated scheme of palm oil production, biogas plant for electricity and steam generation, and biofuel pellet manufacture. This review provides an in‐depth overview of palm oil biomass for Malaysian power production decarbonization. This article is categorized under: Sustainable Energy > Bioenergy Climate and Environment > Net Zero Planning and Decarbonization Sustainable Development > Emerging Economies

The acceleration of MSW generation is one of the world’s critical challenge that contributed to the serious environmental and socio-economic problems involving pollutions and shortage of waste disposal area. The population growth, economic growth and urbanization are the key contributors to the MSW generation. Precisely, organic waste is the world highest contributor of MSW compared to other inorganic waste. This massive amount of putrescible waste consumption has a great global warming potential through the unutilized methane gas released from the landfill. In this regard, the waste treatment method through energy recovery Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) via Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has become the best way to utilize the high valuable energy (methane) resource potential and sustaining the environment. Moreover, AD process could be further enhanced through co-digestion process with various of substrates. Malaysia tropical fruit are among the potential of substrate for the anaerobic co-digestion that receiving extensive attention. This short article reviewed the potential of the selected Malaysia tropical fruit residues as substrates for anaerobic co-digestion with OFMSW.

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