Seda on the hunt for CEO and top officials

PETALING JAYA: The influential Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda), which will have powers over the licensing of solar power plants, has placed out advertisements for jobs to fill vacancies in its top management, including the chief executive position.

StarBiz had earlier reported that Badriyah Abdul Malek, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry's (KeTTHA) under-secretary for sustainable energy, was tipped to be the CEO of Seda.

Although no official announcement has been made on Badriyah's appointment, she was named as one of the proposed panelists representing the Seda at the second International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia to be held in September.

Seda is the governing body that would manage the feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism for renewable energy (RE) in the country. Seda will also be playing an important role as it will manage and award licences for renewable energy players for the production of RE.

In April, Parliament passed both the Renewable Energy Act 2010 and Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) Bill. The RE Act would focus on RE while the other was to empower the Seda which will oversee its implementation and to manage the FiT mechanism. RE had been a part of the Energy Commission portfolio.

The Seda jobs advertisement appeared early this week on the portal of KeTTHA as well as on jobsmalaysia.gov.my, the official website for employment services by the Human Resources Ministry.

There are 10 positions in Seda to be filled and the advertisement also stated that the CEO's basic salary is RM18,000 a month and the candidiate will be hired on a contractual basis.

It said the individual has be at least 35 years old with a masters degree. The CEO also has to have at least 15 years of experience, including in the energy sector.

It is understood that the term of office for the CEO is for a period of two years and eligible for reappointment for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

The CEO will be responsible for the overall administration and management of the functions and the day-to-day affairs of the authority.

KeTTHA also advertised the position of chief operating officer with a salary bracket of RM12,000 to RM18,000, also on a contractual basis.

According to the initial Seda setup, there will be 35 members including a deputy CEO/chief operating officer and a CEO bringing the total team to 36.

It had been mentioned several times that the CEO of Seda would be carefully chosen, based on an open and transparent interview and shortlisting processes.