CIMB pairs a battery with 20.2 GW of the 24.3 GW of new Peninsular solar on its 2026-2035 sheet - about RM1 million a megawatt for the battery and RM3 million for the panels
Utusan Malaysia reported on 26 October 2026, and The Star on 28 October, a CIMB Securities estimate of 24.3 GW of new solar in Peninsular Malaysia from 2026 to 2035, with about 20.2 GW paired with a battery. Utusan costs that pair at about RM4 million per megawatt: RM3 million for the solar and RM1 million for the battery. The solar investment line is RM93 billion. Behind-the-meter solar is left out of the 2 GW already counted. The note is an estimate. It is not a quote for one workplace.
A factory owner in Peninsular Malaysia can read a bank note about how much solar-plus-battery the peninsula might build, mostly for data centres. The note is a national sketch. It is not the invoice for one roof.
Utusan Malaysia reported the CIMB Securities note on 26 October 2026. The Star reported it on 28 October. The New Straits Times reported it on 25 October. None of the three links the research note itself. The figures below are the figures those papers print.
New solar. Utusan and The Star print 24.3 gigawatts of new solar from 2026 to 2035. The Star's opening line rounds that to 24 gigawatts, and the New Straits Times prints 24 gigawatts. Of the 24.3, Utusan and The Star say about 20.2 gigawatts would be paired with a battery. The rest would be solar with no battery on that line. 24.3 minus 20.2 is 4.1, by our arithmetic. The papers do not print 4.1. The New Straits Times does not print the 20.2 gigawatt split. It does say centralised, utility-scale batteries would be part of keeping the grid stable. That is a different sentence from the 20.2 gigawatts paired with the solar.
The cost split sits in Utusan. A megawatt of solar with a battery is about RM4 million: about RM3 million for the solar and about RM1 million for the battery. The Star prints the same two outer numbers, about RM4 million per megawatt with storage and about RM3 million for solar alone, and does not spell the RM1 million line. Our multiplication, which the papers do not print: 20.2 gigawatts at RM4 million a megawatt is RM80.8 billion, and 4.1 gigawatts at RM3 million a megawatt is RM12.3 billion. The sum is RM93.1 billion, in line with the RM93 billion solar investment all three papers print. It is a check that the lines can sit on one sheet. It is not a sentence CIMB is quoted as writing.
What is already built. The Star quotes CIMB counting 2 gigawatts of solar commissioned to date in Peninsular Malaysia, and leaving out behind-the-meter solar. A factory roof sits in the part that quotation leaves out. The 24.3 gigawatts is new build on top of that grid-side 2 gigawatts, in the quotation. It is not a count of roofs.
Gas is a separate capital line, for building power stations. Utusan, The Star and the New Straits Times all print up to RM83 billion for up to 15 gigawatts of new gas plant, tied to a 25% firm reserve margin. The articles do not define that margin with a formula. If the contracts of four coal plants that end from 2029 to 2033 are extended, The Star and the New Straits Times print 7 gigawatts and RM42 billion. Utusan prints about 7.4 gigawatts and the same RM42 billion. One ringgit line, two megawatt figures. The New Straits Times also prints RM176 billion as the solar-plus-gas total. 93 plus 83 is 176, by our arithmetic. The papers do not print that addition.
That gas line is the cost of building plants. It is not a price per kilowatt-hour from a battery. A battery on the solar line still takes a charge. CIMB, as reported, does not print the cost of that charge, and it does not print a cents comparison between a charged battery and gas. Reading RM1 million a megawatt as proof that a battery beats a gas plant skips the electricity that fills the box.
Data centres are the demand story the papers hang on the solar. Utusan, citing CIMB citing the Electricity Supply and Tariff Planning and Implementation Committee (JPPPET), says data-centre electricity goes from 10,544 gigawatt-hours in 2026 to 73,274 gigawatt-hours in 2035, a rise of nearly 600%, and from 6% of Peninsular demand in the first half of 2026 to 31% by 2035. The Star quotes the nearly 600% and the 31% and does not print the gigawatt-hours. Utusan also prints peak demand from 21.3 gigawatts in 2026 to 33.5 gigawatts in 2035. The generation mix, in Utusan and the New Straits Times: renewables from 11% in 2025 to 22% in 2035, gas from 37% to 59%, coal from 52% to 10%.
Supply agreements, with a hedge word attached. Utusan says Tenaga Nasional had reportedly signed electricity supply agreements with 61 data-centre projects by mid-2026, a combined maximum demand of 8.35 gigawatts. It says about 30 to 40 further projects, about 5 gigawatts, sit in the approval pipeline. The word reportedly stays on that sentence. It is not a register a buyer can open from the article.
A data-centre bill line, from the New Straits Times only. It says the tariff framework in place from 1 July 2025 has data-centre operators paying a tariff 33% above the base rate, and carrying grid-strengthening costs so other consumers do not. That is a data-centre tariff. It is not the standing charge on a factory account, and it is not a solar quote.
The access charges for corporate green power are a different sheet, already filed in the CRESS note. This CIMB coverage does not print those sen figures. A workplace quote that copies RM1 million a megawatt onto a roof, or that pastes it next to a gas-plant billion as if both were a bill, has changed the unit.
Analogy: RM1 million a megawatt is the battery's line on a sketch of national build. It is the price of the box in that sketch. It is not the saving on a factory bill, and it is not the cost of the electricity used to fill the box.
Good: Three papers, three dates, a public split between panels and battery on a per-megawatt basis, and a public line that behind-the-meter solar is outside the 2 gigawatts already counted.
Bad: The CIMB note itself is not linked. The Star rounds 24.3 to 24 in its opening. The New Straits Times does not print 20.2 gigawatts. Utusan prints 7.4 gigawatts of gas where the other two print 7. The 61 projects and 8.35 gigawatts are marked as reported, not as a table in the articles. No term, no site and no workplace saving.
Ugly: Reading RM93 billion as a roof quote. Reading RM1 million a megawatt as a bill cut. Comparing the battery's capital line with the gas-plant line and leaving out the electricity that charges the battery. Putting a factory roof into the 2 gigawatts the quotation leaves behind the meter. Treating 20.2 gigawatts as a project someone has ordered.
Soft next step: put RM3 million and RM1 million per megawatt on the same sheet as the quote in front of you, and keep a line for the cost of charging the battery. The national RM93 billion is not that quote.
Source: Utusan Malaysia, 26 Oct 2026 - Zakkina Wati Ahmad Tarmizi, CIMB Securities on data centres and solar. Primary, as a news report of the CIMB note, for 24.3 GW of new solar from 2026 to 2035, about 20.2 GW paired with battery storage and the rest without it, about RM4 million per megawatt for solar with a battery, made up of about RM3 million for the solar and about RM1 million for the battery, RM93 billion of solar investment, data-centre use from 10,544 GWh in 2026 to 73,274 GWh in 2035, the JPPPET projection of a rise from 6% of Peninsular demand in the first half of 2026 to 31% by 2035, peak demand from 21.3 GW in 2026 to 33.5 GW in 2035, the mix shift (renewables 11% in 2025 to 22% in 2035, gas 37% to 59%, coal 52% to 10%), up to RM83 billion for up to 15 GW of new gas, and about 7.4 GW and RM42 billion if four coal contracts are extended. Also primary for the reported line that TNB had signed supply agreements with 61 data-centre projects totalling 8.35 GW of maximum demand by mid-2026, and for about 30 to 40 further projects of about 5 GW in the approval pipeline. Utusan does not link the CIMB note. The Star, 28 Oct 2026 - solar investment of RM93 billion. Primary, as a news report, for the opening rounding to 24 GW, the quotation of 2 GW of solar already commissioned in Peninsular Malaysia excluding behind-the-meter resources, 24.3 GW of new solar with 20.2 GW paired with on-site batteries, about RM4 million per megawatt with storage against about RM3 million for solar alone, RM93 billion, a near-600% rise in data-centre electricity use and a 31% share of Peninsular demand by 2035, RM83 billion for 15 GW of gas to hold a 25% firm reserve margin, and 7 GW and RM42 billion if four coal contracts ending 2029 to 2033 are extended. The Star does not print the RM1 million battery split as its own sentence, and it does not print the gigawatt-hour totals. New Straits Times, 25 Oct 2026 - S. Birruntha, RM176 billion. Primary, as a news report, for RM176 billion covering new solar and gas, 24 GW of solar and up to 15 GW of gas, RM93 billion and RM83 billion, 7 GW and RM42 billion if the four coal contracts are extended, the same 600% and 31% and 6% demand lines, the same 22%, 59% and 10% mix, centralised utility-scale batteries for grid stability with no 20.2 GW printed, and a data-centre tariff 33% above the base rate under the framework from 1 July 2025, with grid-strengthening costs carried by those operators. 20.2 times RM4 million is RM80.8 billion, 4.1 times RM3 million is RM12.3 billion, and 93 plus 83 is 176: our arithmetic, not a printed CIMB line. The RM1 million is capital for the battery in the reported sheet. It is not a workplace saving, and it does not include the cost of charging the battery.