NEM 3.0 versus Solar ATAP: a scheme comparison

The short answer

If you are a homeowner installing in 2026, Solar ATAP is your route. NEM 3.0 closed on 30 June 2025, its NEM Rakyat allocation having been almost entirely taken up. Solar ATAP — the Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme — opened in January 2026 and carries no quota cap. Businesses are also on Solar ATAP: the whole NEM programme — Rakyat, NOVA and GoMEn — closed to new applicants on 30 June 2025. The commercial decision now turns on how much of your own generation you can absorb on site.

What separates the schemes

Quota treatment. NEM 3.0 ran under capped allocations — 700 MW for NEM Rakyat, 100 MW for NEM GoMEn and 1,700 MW for NOVA — 2,500 MW in total — and closed to new applications on 30 June 2025. Solar ATAP carries no quota cap, which removes application timing as a risk. Each contract runs ten years from commencement, after which the system continues as self-consumption only, with no export offset — a point worth building into any twenty-five-year payback model.

Credit handling. Under Solar ATAP, domestic users offset against the regulated Energy Charge component of the tariff — not the full retail rate, which since July 2025 also carries capacity, network and retail charges. An exported unit is therefore worth materially less than an imported unit avoided. Non-domestic users are credited on the System Marginal Price (SMP), a wholesale reference that moves and generally sits below retail. For a business this materially changes the value of exported energy versus energy consumed on site.

Capacity thresholds. For domestic installations, 5 kW on single-phase and 15 kW on three-phase are the thresholds above which a Connection Confirmation Check is triggered — not hard caps. Non-domestic tiers run from 1–72 kW with no assessment, rising through banded checks to a High Voltage power system study. Separately, non-domestic capacity is capped at 100% of the premises’ maximum demand, or 1,000 kW, whichever is lower — which makes your demand profile, not your roof, the binding constraint. Your phase configuration therefore constrains system size before roof area does — confirm the current thresholds with SEDA’s Solar ATAP guidelines at design stage.

Which route applies

Landed residential: Solar ATAP. The real questions are roof area, orientation, structural capacity and consumption profile — not scheme availability.

Commercial or industrial: Solar ATAP non-domestic. System size is capped at 100% of the premises’ maximum demand, up to 1,000 kWac — which makes your MD profile, not your roof, the binding constraint. Export is credited on the System Marginal Price, so self-consumption is generally worth more than export.

Government entities: Solar ATAP, under the non-domestic terms. NEM GoMEn closed with the rest of the programme.

The sizing figures that matter

A rooftop system needs roughly 5 to 6 m² of unshaded roof per kWp. In Kuala Lumpur a well-oriented kWp yields around 1,200 kWh per year after typical system losses, so a 10 kWp home system produces roughly 12,000 kWh annually. Heavy shading or soiling takes it below that; nothing takes it far above. Installed cost runs RM 3.00 to RM 4.20 per watt-peak, putting that system between RM 30,000 and RM 42,000 before incentives.

The common error is sizing against total monthly consumption rather than daytime consumption. A household using most of its electricity between 7pm and midnight will not offset that load directly, and the value then depends entirely on how export is credited.

What to confirm before signing

Any contractor quoting you should state in writing which programme your application will be lodged under, the capacity limit applying to your connection, how exported energy is treated, and who prepares the submission. If those four points are absent, they have not been resolved.

We deliberately do not publish scheme rates here — export credit values and quota positions are revised, and a figure in an article ages badly. Confirm against SEDA or Suruhanjaya Tenaga at the point of application.

What this means for system sizing

It follows that the largest system your roof can accommodate is not automatically the best system for your finances. Where export terms are unfavourable, a system sized closer to your daytime baseline can return more per ringgit than a larger array generating surplus that earns little.

That runs against the commercial incentive of most installers, who are paid by capacity. Ask directly why a proposed system is the size it is, and what happens to generation above your daytime consumption.

For households with significant evening load, the alternative is storage — retaining midday surplus for use after dark rather than exporting it. That adds capital cost and needs its own justification, but it changes the calculation in a way worth modelling rather than assuming.

The application itself

Whichever scheme applies, the application is lodged with the utility and requires system specification, single-line diagram, equipment certification and installer credentials. Approval timelines sit with the authorities; what a contractor controls is completeness. Applications are commonly delayed by missing certification or specifications that do not match what was installed.

What is most likely to change

Anyone deciding on a system that will operate for twenty-five years should recognise that the offset arrangement is the element most likely to change over that period, while the hardware and the roof are comparatively stable. That is an argument for sizing toward self-consumption where practical — energy you use yourself is insulated from changes in export terms in a way exported energy is not.