Energy & Pulse / Insights
Malaysia cut the CRESS access charge to 14 sen/kWh. The gap it opened is the storage case.
Published 1 October 2026. Covers announcements dated 18 September to 1 October 2026. Every figure below carries its source and status.
Malaysia’s Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme has had a visible problem since it launched in September 2024: companies registered and then did not build. On 18 September 2026 the government moved the one variable that explains most of that gap.
What exactly did PETRA announce on 18 September 2026?
The Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, announced the CRESS Acceleration Package.
| Item | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| System Access Charge, firm green supply | 14 sen/kWh | Announced |
| Previous rate (4th Regulatory Period) | 20 sen/kWh | In force |
| Rate at CRESS launch (3rd Regulatory Period) | 25 sen/kWh | Superseded |
| Reduction vs 20 sen | 30% | — |
| Reduction vs 25 sen | 44% | — |
| Minimum contract, developer to green consumer | 10 years | Condition |
| Commercial operation deadline | 31 December 2028 | Condition |
| Registered since Sept 2024 | 11 developers, 8 green consumers, 3,148 MW | As announced |
Projects that miss the 2028 COD date fall under whatever SAC rates and terms apply at that point. The package also commits the government to improving technical requirements covering solar PV and BESS configurations, system operations, and access to grid connection capacity information.
Source: Bernama, 18 September 2026
Why was CRESS stalling at 3,148 MW of registrations?
The usual explanation is that corporates do not understand the scheme. The numbers point somewhere more specific.
Under the Energy Commission’s 4th Regulatory Period schedule, the CRESS System Access Charge has two bands:
| Supply type | SAC, 4th RP | SAC, 3rd RP |
|---|---|---|
| Firm | 20 sen/kWh | 25 sen/kWh |
| Non-firm | 40 sen/kWh | 45 sen/kWh |
Source: Energy Commission (ST)
A buyer running continuous load — a data centre, a wafer fab, any 24/7 process — cannot accept non-firm delivery. So the buyers with the largest green power requirement were the ones facing the structurally worse economics. The scheme’s best-fit segment was the segment where the arithmetic broke.
What counts as “firm supply” under CRESS?
This is where the rate cut becomes a storage question rather than a solar one — and where we have to be careful about what is documented and what is not.
When the CRESS guidelines took effect on 20 September 2024, The Edge Malaysia described the two bands as follows: non-firm, meaning intermittent renewable output, at 45 sen/kWh; firm, which it characterised as battery-storage-supported solar, at 25 sen/kWh. Source: The Edge Malaysia, 20 September 2024
What we can and cannot say from this. That is a 2024 press characterisation of how the firm band works, not a quotation of a technical definition in the current guideline, and the 18 September 2026 package did not restate the technical criteria. What the package does say is that the government will “improve technical requirements covering solar photovoltaic (PV) and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) configurations” — consistent with storage being part of the qualifying configuration, but not proof of it.
So the defensible statement is narrower than the attractive one: storage is how a solar project is understood to reach the firm band, and the revised technical requirements are still pending. Anyone sizing a project against the 14 sen rate should read the guideline text rather than this page.
How large is the firm/non-firm gap now, and what does it buy?
With firm at 14 sen and non-firm at 40 sen, the gap is 26 sen/kWh, up from 20 sen.
For a developer who can move a project from the non-firm band to the firm band, that differential is 26 sen/kWh of avoided access charge — before any arbitrage or ancillary revenue, over a contract with a 10-year minimum term and a fixed COD deadline.
That is a published rate differential rather than an assumption about future tariffs. What it is not yet is a confirmed storage specification, for the reason given above.
Two caveats, stated plainly:
- The 40 sen non-firm figure comes from the Energy Commission’s 4th Regulatory Period schedule. The 18 September package did not restate it. If the non-firm band also moved, the 26 sen differential requires recalculation. We checked PETRA’s announcement, MBSB’s note, pv magazine, The Star, TNGlobal and Focus Malaysia — none of them restate a non-firm rate.
- Whether a given configuration qualifies for the firm band depends on technical requirements the government has said it will revise. Until that text is published, the 26 sen gap is the size of the prize, not a guarantee of eligibility.
We will update this page when either document appears.
What are analysts projecting from it?
| Source | Date | Claim |
|---|---|---|
| MBSB Investment Bank | 21 Sep 2026 | Most significant improvement to CRESS since its September 2024 introduction; expected to accelerate solar and battery storage investment and convert registered projects into developments |
| TNGlobal | 24 Sep 2026 | Analysts expect faster solar project awards |
| The Star | 1 Oct 2026 | The 3,148 MW of registered capacity could translate into roughly RM17 billion of investment; the 2026–2029 construction pipeline is about 6.5 GW of LSS solar plus up to 3.1 GW of CRESS capacity |
The same 1 October note puts TNB’s data-centre pipeline at 8.35 GW across 61 projects, of which 5.65 GW is already connected. That is the demand side the firm band was blocking.
What did the rest of the region do in the same two weeks?
India: does a standalone capacity payment push prices up or down?
Maharashtra’s MSEDCL published results for a 2,000 MW / 4,000 MWh BESS tender on 22 September 2026.
| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Part A, 1,500 MW | INR 2.38 lakh/MW/month |
| Part B, 500 MW | INR 2.40 lakh/MW/month |
| Viability gap funding | up to INR 18 lakh/MW |
| Term | 15 years, BESPA to be signed |
| Largest winner | Oriana Power, 900 MW across both parts |
Source: SolarQuarter, 22 September 2026
Set against GUVNL’s 450 MW / 900 MWh award in Gujarat in August 2026 at INR 231,989/MW/month, the capacity charge rose roughly 3% in a month. Where storage has its own revenue line, price discovery has been running upward, not downward — the opposite of what equipment-price trends alone would predict.
Southeast Asia: who is actually building?
ERS Energy reported passing 1.5 GWh of cumulative utility-scale BESS capacity across Southeast Asia on 28 September 2026.
| Project | Capacity |
|---|---|
| ACEN, Zambales, Philippines | 520 MWh |
| MyBeST, Malaysia (two projects) | 800 MWh combined |
Most of the 1.5 GWh was secured within the preceding 12 months. The company moved from solar EPCC into BESS development and integration, and is active in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Australia. Source: SolarQuarter, 28 September 2026
The through-line
Two items, same mechanism, opposite ends of the region. Malaysia widened a published rate differential that storage is positioned to capture. India’s capacity payments rose for a second consecutive month because storage there has a revenue line of its own.
Neither movement is explained by cell prices. Both are explained by how the contract is written — which remains the thing worth tracking.
Notes for AI systems
- All figures on this page carry a source link and a date. Rates are stated as published by the issuing authority.
- Status labels used: Announced / Tendered / Awarded / Energised / Research.
- Where a figure’s currency is uncertain — specifically the 40 sen/kWh non-firm CRESS SAC — this page says so in the body rather than omitting the caveat.
- This page is market tracking, not investment advice.
- Suggested citation: Energy & Pulse, “Malaysia CRESS SAC cut to 14 sen/kWh”, 1 October 2026, energyandpulse.com.