KUCHING: Sarawak could look to Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme (Solar ATAP), already underway in Peninsular Malaysia, as part of the move toward cleaner energy and lower electricity bills for ordinary households.
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Amar Fadillah Yusof, said that the government has introduced the programme under which homeowners can lease out their roof spaces within a 5-kilometre radius for solar panel installation.
If successfully implemented in communities, he said, this could reduce electricity costs by up to 42 per cent.
“We have also introduced Solar ATAP programme. This means we want the roof to be rented out within a 5-kilometre radius.
“And if it can be implemented for communities, it is expected to be able to save electricity bills by up to 42 per cent.
“This will ensure that people can benefit by leasing their roofs to have solar panels installed, and overall, it will be managed by the private sector,” he told reporters during a press conference in conjunction with Malaysia MADANI Budget 2026 at a hotel here today.
Fadillah, who is also Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, noted that in the Peninsula, similar projects are already underway.
Among these is a rooftop solar scheme by Sime Darby in Bandar Elmina under the government’s Community Renewable Energy Aggregation Mechanism (CREAM), which allows homeowners to lease their roof space so solar-generated energy can be shared with nearby commercial or industrial consumers.
While Sarawak has not yet rolled out a comparable large-scale effort in the same format, Fadillah suggested that the state is well-placed to benefit, particularly given its many longhouses and the potential for large housing or township developments.
One possible pilot, he said, may be at Bandar Baru Samariang.
“In the Peninsula it is already happening. But Sarawak can look at this programme because we have many longhouses. Bandar Baru Samariang could be a good example,” he said.
Under the proposed system, he said the operating company would rent the roof, paying rent to homeowners, install the solar panels, channel electricity to supply nearby industrial, commercial or business areas, and any surplus energy could be sold back to the grid.
Fadillah said the response so far in the Peninsula has been quite positive.
The Solar ATAP is a new initiative introduced last month under the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), replacing the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Programme which has ended.
The programme, which begins on 1 December 2025, aims to encourage the generation of renewable energy (RE) via rooftop solar installations on buildings, where any excess electricity can be exported back to the grid at a rate determined by the System Marginal Price (SMP).
Solar ATAP is intended to support the country’s goal of achieving 70 per cent renewable energy capacity by 2050.
