Deploying bioenergy for decarbonizing Malaysian energy sectors and alleviating renewable energy poverty

Due to the capital cost of co-firing being lower than other biomass technologies, the transformation of coal plants into co-firing facilities can potentially minimize the bioenergy cost needed to meet energy decarbonization targets. This study analyzes the impact of the co-deployment of co-firing and dedicated biomass technologies in contributing to the bioenergy cost reduction for country-level energy systems using a spatio-temporal techno-economic optimization model. Malaysia is used as a case in the analysis. Different scenarios were developed to assess the robustness of the cost reduction potential under the impact of incremental CO2 reduction targets and supply chain cost parameter variations. Our results suggest that the multi-sectoral deployment of bioenergy in energy systems is key to meeting decarbonization targets at the national scale. By also considering co-firing in the biomass technological pathway, up to 27% of bioenergy cost reduction can be enabled in the baseline case. The decrease in the supply chain cost parameter values further enhances the cost reduction potential; bioenergy costs can be reduced up to threefold. The findings have shown that developing countries such as Malaysia can benefit from the use of their rich agricultural resources to cost-effectively alleviate renewable energy poverty.