NEM vs Solar ATAP

NEM vs Solar ATAP: What’s Changing in Malaysia's Solar Landscape?

Last updated: 18 Mar 2026

Understand how Malaysia's transition from NEM to Solar ATAP could affect your solar investment.

Starting from 1 January 2026, Malaysia has officially entered a new era of clean energy. Since the Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 scheme phased out at the end of June 2025, the government has launched the Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme (Solar ATAP) in its place.

A Quick Lookback at NEM 3.0

NEM 3.0 was introduced to allow solar adopters to enjoy a 1:1 offset on their electricity bills. If you produced more solar energy than you used, the extra power sent back to the grid was credited directly to your TNB bill at equal value.

However, the scheme had a couple of limitations:

Fixed quotas, such as a 600 MW cap for residential users
Limited eligibility and rigid application windows

What is Solar ATAP?

Solar ATAP (Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme) is Malaysia's latest rooftop solar initiative – designed to make solar adoption more accessible, flexible, and better aligned with real-time energy markets.

Solar ATAP vs NEM 3.0: What’s Changed?

While Solar ATAP continues the same energy offset concept as NEM 3.0, there are key differences in how credits are calculated and applied.

Energy Offset Structure:

NEM 3.0: Offset covered Energy Charge, Capacity Charge, and Network Charge
Solar ATAP: Offset now covers only the Energy Charge

This means solar exports under Solar ATAP no longer provide a true 1:1 offset like under NEM – impacting the overall credit value received on your electricity bill.

Credit Rollover:

NEM 3.0: Unused credits roll over for up to 12 months
Solar ATAP: No rollover. Unused credits are forfeited at the end of each billing cycle

This change makes energy usage timing and system sizing more important than ever to maximise self-consumption and reduce wastage.

System Size Limit (Residential):

1-phase connection: Remains at 5kWac
3-phase connection: Increased from 12.5kWac to 15kWac

This gives residential users with 3-phase systems more capacity headroom to generate clean energy.

Contract Period:

Both Solar ATAP and NEM operate on a 10-year contract
Once the contract ends, users revert to SELCO (Self-Consumption) for system usage

What About Commercial Users?

For non-domestic consumers, Solar ATAP continues to adopt the System Marginal Price (SMP) as the mechanism for valuing exported solar energy – the same approach used under NEM NOVA.

Key Upgrade:
Commercial solar system capacity is now allowed up to 100% of the maximum demand, capped at 1,000kW – an increase from previous limitations.