There are two seasons of paddy planted in Malaysia. The main season refers to the period of paddy planting from 1st of August to 28th February and off season covers the period of paddy planting from 31st March to 31st July of the year. The total paddy planted areas for Malaysia in the year 2000 was about 600,287 hectares and producing 2,050,306 tones of paddy. Malaysia is about 65% self sufficient in rice supply and another 35% is imported from Thailand and Vietnam. Paddy straw and rice husk are generated as biomass residue during the harvested and milling processes. The paddy straw is left in the paddy field and the rice husk is generated in the rice mill. Both of the biomass are discharged by landfill and open burning. Only a small quantity of rice husk is used for energy generation and other application such as silica production and composting.

It is assumed that only 2% of the rice husk is used for energy production. The balance is treated as landfill method. The paddy straw is usually burned in the open burning areas. The amount of rice husk and paddy straw generated in future are dependent on the planted area, the paddy yield and government policies on agriculture. The government plans to increase the yield from the existing rate to 10 metric tonne per hectare in the future. With this target value more rice husk and paddy straw is available for biomass CHP plant. The issue of solid biomass is difficulties in transportation and handling due to very low density and abrasive nature of the material.