Brunei may introduce FiTs in 2 years - report

Sep 9, 2013 - The Brunei government may launch feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for renewable power in 18 to 24 months, the Borneo Bulletin said today, citing Energy Minister Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar.

According to the minister, such a move can reduce the country’s negative impact on the environment, cut electricity bills and promote residential solar installations. Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin spoke on the FiT plan at the opening of a workshop on policies, FiT frameworks and best practices for grid-connected photovoltaics (PV). He told the paper that the results of the workshop and these of a study that is being carried out by the Energy Department and the Brunei National Energy Research Institute (BNERI) will help shape up any FiT policy and see if it will work “in a Bruneian context”.

The country, located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, wants to source from renewables 10% of its energy by 2035.

As part of the FiT plan, the government is examining the possibility of investing into a smart grid to enhance the efficiency and reliability of power supply.

The Borneo Bulletin also quoted Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive head of the Economic Research Institute for the Asean and East Asia (ERIA), as saying that renewables and geothermal power were to help improve energy security in Brunei, while also supporting the fight with global warming. He pointed out that apart from the FiTs, policy and measures were needed to back research and development to improve the stability and trim the cost of new and renewable energy installations.

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