Financing the Storage Transition: Malaysia’s Battery Moment
Energy Insights by Densui
August 25, 2025
INSIGHTS
Malaysia’s energy sector saw significant policy shifts in July 2025 with updates to the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS), the launch of Regulatory Period 4 (RP4), and the announcement of the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) by the Prime Minister, signalling strong political will by the MADANI Government to advance the green energy transition over the next five years.
These policies appear to be coordinated across various government ministries. Despite the departure of the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, there are no signs that the government is slowing down its push toward clean energy. Moreover, it is highly likely that the successors to the Economy and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability portfolios will maintain continuity, focusing on implementing existing policies rather than introducing entirely new ones.
These recent changes mark a reset in political direction for green energy by the MADANI Government, building on proven policies while rapidly introducing new frameworks to accelerate progress within the next 5 years.
The structure is significant. MyBeST offers a dual-payment mechanism:
Capacity payments for making storage available,
Service tariffs based on actual dispatch cycles.
This model mirrors global best practice, balancing investor certainty with operational incentives. For financiers, it signals that Malaysia is ready to translate the intermittency challenge into a cash-flow opportunity. For developers, it opens a new market beyond solar, where performance and longevity define returns.
Crucially, while pre-qualification for the battery programme began earlier, the official launch of MyBeST coincided with RP4, which reset tariff structures across Malaysia. This alignment is more than timing — it redefined the economics of time. Off-peak hours now coincide with the nation’s solar abundance window, when daytime generation is high and demand is lower. Peak has shifted into the evenings, when solar is absent and gas plants must ramp up to fill the gap.
This creates the perfect canvas for batteries. By charging during the off-peak solar abundance window and discharging during costly evening peaks, BESS unlocks a natural arbitrage spread. The result is a stronger economic model for storage, reduced reliance on gas-fired peakers, and a grid better able to integrate the growing pipeline of more than 6 GW of solar. In short, RP4 has created the market conditions, and MyBeST provides the instrument to capture them.
The implications stretch far beyond four projects. MyBeST is a signal to the market that batteries are no longer optional add-ons — they are central to grid stability, industrial competitiveness, and future-proofing energy policy.
For CETA, the relevance is clear. Just as RP4 reshaped tariff dynamics, MyBeST reshapes investment dynamics. The conversation now is not only about who builds the assets, but who funds the future: utilities, independent power producers, infrastructure funds, or new financial entrants. The storage transition is as much about structuring capital as it is about deploying technology.
As Malaysia steps into its battery moment, CETA provides the platform to debate how these projects will be financed, scaled, and integrated into the broader energy transition.
Financing the Storage Transition: Malaysia’s Battery Moment
Energy Insights by Densui
August 25, 2025
INSIGHTS
Malaysia’s energy sector saw significant policy shifts in July 2025 with updates to the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS), the launch of Regulatory Period 4 (RP4), and the announcement of the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) by the Prime Minister, signalling strong political will by the MADANI Government to advance the green energy transition over the next five years.
These policies appear to be coordinated across various government ministries. Despite the departure of the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, there are no signs that the government is slowing down its push toward clean energy. Moreover, it is highly likely that the successors to the Economy and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability portfolios will maintain continuity, focusing on implementing existing policies rather than introducing entirely new ones.
These recent changes mark a reset in political direction for green energy by the MADANI Government, building on proven policies while rapidly introducing new frameworks to accelerate progress within the next 5 years.
The structure is significant. MyBeST offers a dual-payment mechanism:
Capacity payments for making storage available,
Service tariffs based on actual dispatch cycles.
This model mirrors global best practice, balancing investor certainty with operational incentives. For financiers, it signals that Malaysia is ready to translate the intermittency challenge into a cash-flow opportunity. For developers, it opens a new market beyond solar, where performance and longevity define returns.
Crucially, while pre-qualification for the battery programme began earlier, the official launch of MyBeST coincided with RP4, which reset tariff structures across Malaysia. This alignment is more than timing — it redefined the economics of time. Off-peak hours now coincide with the nation’s solar abundance window, when daytime generation is high and demand is lower. Peak has shifted into the evenings, when solar is absent and gas plants must ramp up to fill the gap.
This creates the perfect canvas for batteries. By charging during the off-peak solar abundance window and discharging during costly evening peaks, BESS unlocks a natural arbitrage spread. The result is a stronger economic model for storage, reduced reliance on gas-fired peakers, and a grid better able to integrate the growing pipeline of more than 6 GW of solar. In short, RP4 has created the market conditions, and MyBeST provides the instrument to capture them.
The implications stretch far beyond four projects. MyBeST is a signal to the market that batteries are no longer optional add-ons — they are central to grid stability, industrial competitiveness, and future-proofing energy policy.
For CETA, the relevance is clear. Just as RP4 reshaped tariff dynamics, MyBeST reshapes investment dynamics. The conversation now is not only about who builds the assets, but who funds the future: utilities, independent power producers, infrastructure funds, or new financial entrants. The storage transition is as much about structuring capital as it is about deploying technology.
As Malaysia steps into its battery moment, CETA provides the platform to debate how these projects will be financed, scaled, and integrated into the broader energy transition.
Financing the Storage Transition: Malaysia’s Battery Moment
Energy Insights by Densui
August 25, 2025
INSIGHTS
The global energy transition is entering a new chapter. After years of rapid solar deployment, the bottleneck is no longer generation but integration. Across the world, governments are turning to grid-scale batteries to bridge this gap. In California, multi-gigawatt storage fleets now replace gas peakers. In China, the Ningxia mega-battery stands as the largest single installation at 1 GW/2 GWh. In Australia, batteries are no longer experiments but critical grid infrastructure.
Malaysia is now taking its first decisive step in this direction. The Energy Commission’s Malaysia Battery Energy Storage Tender (MyBeST) has attracted over 20 bidders for four large-scale projects, each sized at 100 MW / 400 MWh. This programme is not just another renewable initiative — it is the country’s entry point into bankable, utility-scale storage. For the first time, policy is explicitly recognising batteries as a core asset class in the grid.
The structure is significant. MyBeST offers a dual-payment mechanism:
Capacity payments for making storage available,
Service tariffs based on actual dispatch cycles.
This model mirrors global best practice, balancing investor certainty with operational incentives. For financiers, it signals that Malaysia is ready to translate the intermittency challenge into a cash-flow opportunity. For developers, it opens a new market beyond solar, where performance and longevity define returns.
Crucially, while pre-qualification for the battery programme began earlier, the official launch of MyBeST coincided with RP4, which reset tariff structures across Malaysia. This alignment is more than timing — it redefined the economics of time. Off-peak hours now coincide with the nation’s solar abundance window, when daytime generation is high and demand is lower. Peak has shifted into the evenings, when solar is absent and gas plants must ramp up to fill the gap.
This creates the perfect canvas for batteries. By charging during the off-peak solar abundance window and discharging during costly evening peaks, BESS unlocks a natural arbitrage spread. The result is a stronger economic model for storage, reduced reliance on gas-fired peakers, and a grid better able to integrate the growing pipeline of more than 6 GW of solar. In short, RP4 has created the market conditions, and MyBeST provides the instrument to capture them.
The implications stretch far beyond four projects. MyBeST is a signal to the market that batteries are no longer optional add-ons — they are central to grid stability, industrial competitiveness, and future-proofing energy policy.
For CETA, the relevance is clear. Just as RP4 reshaped tariff dynamics, MyBeST reshapes investment dynamics. The conversation now is not only about who builds the assets, but who funds the future: utilities, independent power producers, infrastructure funds, or new financial entrants. The storage transition is as much about structuring capital as it is about deploying technology.
As Malaysia steps into its battery moment, CETA provides the platform to debate how these projects will be financed, scaled, and integrated into the broader energy transition.
Financing the Storage Transition: Malaysia’s Battery Moment
Energy Insights by Densui
August 25, 2025
INSIGHTS
The global energy transition is entering a new chapter. After years of rapid solar deployment, the bottleneck is no longer generation but integration. Across the world, governments are turning to grid-scale batteries to bridge this gap. In California, multi-gigawatt storage fleets now replace gas peakers. In China, the Ningxia mega-battery stands as the largest single installation at 1 GW/2 GWh. In Australia, batteries are no longer experiments but critical grid infrastructure.
Malaysia is now taking its first decisive step in this direction. The Energy Commission’s Malaysia Battery Energy Storage Tender (MyBeST) has attracted over 20 bidders for four large-scale projects, each sized at 100 MW / 400 MWh. This programme is not just another renewable initiative — it is the country’s entry point into bankable, utility-scale storage. For the first time, policy is explicitly recognising batteries as a core asset class in the grid.
The structure is significant. MyBeST offers a dual-payment mechanism:
Capacity payments for making storage available,
Service tariffs based on actual dispatch cycles.
This model mirrors global best practice, balancing investor certainty with operational incentives. For financiers, it signals that Malaysia is ready to translate the intermittency challenge into a cash-flow opportunity. For developers, it opens a new market beyond solar, where performance and longevity define returns.
Crucially, while pre-qualification for the battery programme began earlier, the official launch of MyBeST coincided with RP4, which reset tariff structures across Malaysia. This alignment is more than timing — it redefined the economics of time. Off-peak hours now coincide with the nation’s solar abundance window, when daytime generation is high and demand is lower. Peak has shifted into the evenings, when solar is absent and gas plants must ramp up to fill the gap.
This creates the perfect canvas for batteries. By charging during the off-peak solar abundance window and discharging during costly evening peaks, BESS unlocks a natural arbitrage spread. The result is a stronger economic model for storage, reduced reliance on gas-fired peakers, and a grid better able to integrate the growing pipeline of more than 6 GW of solar. In short, RP4 has created the market conditions, and MyBeST provides the instrument to capture them.
The implications stretch far beyond four projects. MyBeST is a signal to the market that batteries are no longer optional add-ons — they are central to grid stability, industrial competitiveness, and future-proofing energy policy.
For CETA, the relevance is clear. Just as RP4 reshaped tariff dynamics, MyBeST reshapes investment dynamics. The conversation now is not only about who builds the assets, but who funds the future: utilities, independent power producers, infrastructure funds, or new financial entrants. The storage transition is as much about structuring capital as it is about deploying technology.
As Malaysia steps into its battery moment, CETA provides the platform to debate how these projects will be financed, scaled, and integrated into the broader energy transition.
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Secure your summit pass for full access and save 20% with the early bird rate – Book now!
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Secure your summit pass for full access and save 20% with the early bird rate – Book now!
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Standard Rate
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