Malaysian and Japanese universities, led by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Saga University of Japan, are currently developing a first pilot plant of Hybrid Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (H-OTEC) at International Institute of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences (I-AQUAS), Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. This is a joint project between the Governments of Japan and Malaysia under the SATREPS Research Grant, supported by Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE).

Due to the current COVID19 pandemic, which the country has been under the Movement Control Order (MCO) since 18 March 2020, this project that is scheduled to be completed within next four (4) years, has to be extended for another year, to until 31 March 2025 in Japan, and 30 June 2025 in Malaysia. The Project Group has expressed their request for this proposed extension during an online meeting on 10 November 2020 with the Research Excellence Division, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE). Also present in this meeting was a representative of JICA from Kuala Lumpur Office.

Despite the extension of the project deadline, the given allocations for this project, which are JPY 470,000,000 from the Government of Japan and RM6 million from the Government of Malaysia through MoHE are to remain unchanged.