Wood chips in Malaysia are mostly rubber trees and are one of the essential plantation crops in Malaysia. Rubber tree biomass has widespread applications in almost all sectors of the wood products manufacturing sector.

Despite its abundance, the exploitation of rubberwood biomass for energy generation is limited compared to other available biomass such as oil palm, rice husk, cocoa, sugarcane, coconut, and other wood residues. Furthermore, the use of biomass for energy generation is still in its early stages in Malaysia, a nation still highly dependent on fossil fuels for energy production. The constraints for large scale biomass energy production in Malaysia are the lack of financing for such projects, the need for significant investments, and the limited research and development activities inefficient biomass energy production.

The relatively low energy cost in Malaysia, through the provision of subsidy, also restricts the potential utilization of biomass for energy production. To fully realize the potential of biomass energy in Malaysia, the environmental cost must be factored into the cost of energy production.