DPM: Major renewable energy programme to be launched next year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. - A major renewable energy programme will be launched early next year aimed at connecting in grid form small renewable energy generation plants, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

The programme also seeks to provide five per cent of the country's total electricity demand by the year 2005, Abdullah said.

"While increasing the renewable energy share of our total energy consumption is the primary objective of this programme, a key motivation for pushing this programme is to promote distributed generation," he said.

Abdullah said this in a speech at the official opening of the "Business and Investment …