Maragatham Kumar

OIES-UNITEN Supernumerary Research Fellow

Maggie Kumar joined the Institute in 2018 as OIES-UNITEN Supernumerary Research Fellow in Malaysian Energy Studies. Her research addressed the gas industry and electricity market reform in Malaysia. Her research focussed on the evolution and design of competitive gas and electricity markets in the Malaysia.  Her previous research expertise includes energy system modelling and working on energy system models such as OSeMOSYS, MESSAGE and MAED to develop optimal and near-optimal decarbonisation scenarios and technology transition pathways for energy and climate policy analysis. She is currently completing her PhD in Energy Economics at UCL Energy Institute.

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                    [post_content] => This paper examines electricity supply industry reform in Malaysia and analyses issues and options in relation to electricity market design, integrating distributed resources and incentivising large scale renewable energy deployment in this country. Since the 1990s, Malaysia has been in the process of restructuring its electricity sector with the aim of improving the efficiency, governance, and administration of the sector, maintaining/enhancing the security of electricity supply, and encouraging the growth of low-carbon technologies. The country has faced a number of challenges in all elements across the electricity supply chain and this led to the creation of the Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry (MESI 1.0) reform initiatives, aimed at awarding tenders to competitive independent power producers (IPPs), incentive-based regulation (IBR) with imbalance cost pass through (ICPT), accounting unbundling, and the gradual rationalization of gas subsidies. In the years following MESI 1.0 a range of new industry megatrends emerged– such as digitalization (smart energy network using digital technologies), decentralization (customer participation and integration of distributed resources), and electrification (increase in electricity demand due to electric vehicles and other appliances) –leading to further reform initiatives (MESI 2.0) to make the power sector more efficient, reliable, and sustainable.

The paper addresses three main research questions:
  1. What is the most suitable reform model for the Malaysian electricity sector which will promote competition, security of supply, and sustainability while at the same time being compatible with the country’s own context and government objectives?
  2. How does decentralization (distributed generation, storage, demand response, and energy efficiency) affect the Malaysian electricity sector?
  3. How do renewable support schemes need to be designed and implemented in order to avoid or minimize distortion in the market?
The paper addresses each question in a separate chapter and makes detailed policy recommendations about electricity market design, integrating distributed resources and incentivising large scale renewable energy in Malaysia. [post_title] => Electricity supply industry reform and design of a competitive electricity market in Malaysia [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => electricity-supply-industry-reform-and-design-of-a-competitive-electricity-market-in-malaysia [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-08-19 10:45:47 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-08-19 09:45:47 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.oxfordenergy.org/?post_type=publications&p=43353 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => publications [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 36276 [post_author] => 111 [post_date] => 2020-03-23 10:45:49 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-03-23 10:45:49 [post_content] => Gas market liberalisation is at an early stage in Malaysia. Not all of the legal and regulatory framework for third-party access (TPA) was in place at the end of 2019, and there had been no new entrants. Using stakeholder analysis, this paper analyses obstacles to the development of a liberalised and competitive gas market, specifically the existence of long-term sales contracts for large sections of the market which is dominated by incumbents, and a lack of transparent and market-related prices which hinders market entry. The lack of progress during the 2019 TPA pilot phase, highlighted these obstacles and raised questions about how quickly liberalisation could develop in future, and whether additional structural and regulatory measures would be needed. The paper also examines whether the development of global and regional (ASEAN) LNG trading could facilitate competition in the domestic gas market. [post_title] => Gas Industry Reform and the Evolution of a Competitive Gas Market in Malaysia [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => gas-industry-reform-and-the-evolution-of-a-competitive-gas-market-in-malaysia [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-03-02 12:45:49 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-03-02 12:45:49 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.oxfordenergy.org/?post_type=publications&p=36276 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => publications [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 2 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 43353 [post_author] => 111 [post_date] => 2021-01-25 12:01:04 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-01-25 12:01:04 [post_content] => This paper examines electricity supply industry reform in Malaysia and analyses issues and options in relation to electricity market design, integrating distributed resources and incentivising large scale renewable energy deployment in this country. Since the 1990s, Malaysia has been in the process of restructuring its electricity sector with the aim of improving the efficiency, governance, and administration of the sector, maintaining/enhancing the security of electricity supply, and encouraging the growth of low-carbon technologies. The country has faced a number of challenges in all elements across the electricity supply chain and this led to the creation of the Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry (MESI 1.0) reform initiatives, aimed at awarding tenders to competitive independent power producers (IPPs), incentive-based regulation (IBR) with imbalance cost pass through (ICPT), accounting unbundling, and the gradual rationalization of gas subsidies. In the years following MESI 1.0 a range of new industry megatrends emerged– such as digitalization (smart energy network using digital technologies), decentralization (customer participation and integration of distributed resources), and electrification (increase in electricity demand due to electric vehicles and other appliances) –leading to further reform initiatives (MESI 2.0) to make the power sector more efficient, reliable, and sustainable. The paper addresses three main research questions:
  1. What is the most suitable reform model for the Malaysian electricity sector which will promote competition, security of supply, and sustainability while at the same time being compatible with the country’s own context and government objectives?
  2. How does decentralization (distributed generation, storage, demand response, and energy efficiency) affect the Malaysian electricity sector?
  3. How do renewable support schemes need to be designed and implemented in order to avoid or minimize distortion in the market?
The paper addresses each question in a separate chapter and makes detailed policy recommendations about electricity market design, integrating distributed resources and incentivising large scale renewable energy in Malaysia. [post_title] => Electricity supply industry reform and design of a competitive electricity market in Malaysia [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => electricity-supply-industry-reform-and-design-of-a-competitive-electricity-market-in-malaysia [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-08-19 10:45:47 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-08-19 09:45:47 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.oxfordenergy.org/?post_type=publications&p=43353 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => publications [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [found_posts] => 2 [max_num_pages] => 0 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => 1 [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => [is_tag] => [is_tax] => [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => [is_privacy_policy] => [is_404] => [is_embed] => [is_paged] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => [is_robots] => [is_favicon] => [is_posts_page] => [is_post_type_archive] => 1 [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => 507650a396cbaaa0c50f915cb026a28d [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => [thumbnails_cached] => [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => query_vars_hash [1] => query_vars_changed ) [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => init_query_flags [1] => parse_tax_query ) )

Latest Publications by Maragatham Kumar