KUALA LUMPUR: Renewable energy counters were among the top gainers on Bursa Malaysia in early trade on Monday, led by Solarvest and Samaiden.
The Bursa Malaysia Energy Index rose 3.36 points, or 0.41%, to 823.98 at 9.56am.
Solarvest surged 35 sen, or 10.51%, to RM3.68, Samaiden jumped 30 sen, or 15.38%, to RM2.25, while Pekat gained 11 sen, or 5.21%, to RM2.22.
The gains came after the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry, or PETRA, introduced the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) Acceleration Package last Friday, aimed at improving the viability of the programme and accelerating the development of new renewable energy capacity.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research (HLIB Research) said the CRESS Acceleration Package could spur stronger deal announcements in the fourth quarter of 2026 and first quarter of 2027.
“We expect Solarvest and Samaiden to secure their first CRESS projects within the next three months,” the research house said.
HLIB Research said CRESS projects could also offer higher returns than large-scale solar (LSS) projects, as developers can negotiate tariffs directly with corporate offtakers, unlike the competitive bidding process under LSS.
It estimated that CRESS projects could generate internal rates of return of about 9% to 11%, depending on factors such as power purchase agreement tenure, contracted tariffs, land and financing costs. This compares with estimated returns of about 6% to 8% for previous LSS projects.
The research house noted that, according to Tenaga Nasional, the DayOne CRESS project could generate a project internal rate of return of about 12%.
HLIB Research said the potentially higher returns could improve project economics and provide developers with a stronger incentive to pursue CRESS opportunities.
Meanwhile, its industry checks indicated that newly approved data centre projects could be subject to a minimum 30% renewable energy requirement.
The research house said the requirement could create a sizeable market for renewable energy as Malaysia's data centre sector expands.
Based on its scenario analysis of the additional 5GW data centre pipeline, HLIB Research estimated a potential total addressable market of about RM9bil for solar and battery energy storage projects on a capacity-matching basis, or about RM36bil on an energy-matching basis.
HLIB Research raised its target price for Solarvest to RM4.85 from RM3.59 and for Samaiden to RM3.13 from RM2.35, while maintaining its overweight rating on the renewable energy sector.
