Two places where you'd get the best solar radiation in Malaysia are Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Bayan Lepas (Penang), with the former as the best spot.
It's a shame we do not have the SEDA Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in place in Sabah and Sarawak.
Table 1: Annual solar radiation in different cities/town in Malaysia
* Source - Sustainable Energy and Environment Forum
* Source - Sustainable Energy and Environment Forum
Table 1 shows that every square meter of solar panel produces a sum of 1,900 kWh of energy per year on average in Kota Kinabalu, compared to only 1,571 kWh in Kuala Lumpur.
Annual average value per square metre of solar cell.
Kota Kinabalu which receives a sum of 1900 kWh/m2 per year can be said to have received 1900 hours of sun per year at 1 kW/m2; or 5.2 hours of sun per day at 1 kW/m2
This means that for every square meter of solar panel you get around 5.2kWh of energy per day.
For a 1.48m x 0.67m panel with 15% efficiency, you get 0.78kWh of energy per panel per day. A 12-panel residential solar PV system will generate 280kWh/month*
In comparison, similar panel installed in Kuala Lumpur would give 232kWh/month*
*Some system integrators insist that PV panels continue to generate energy beyond the "5.2 peak sun hours", thus giving income of more than the estimated figures.
Income generated at both locations
Take the above installation size, and take the current FiT for solar PV of RM1.37/kWh, you generate and sell electricity to TNB from the roof of your home or car garage at:
K.Kinabalu : RM383.60 per month or RM4,603 annually
K.Lumpur : RM317.80 per month or RM3,814 annually
Note: With the current technology, more energy can be squeezed out of a 1 m2 than before; therefore, you use less area on your rooftop to generate similar amount of energy.
As you can see, location makes a lot of difference. Folks in Sabah and Penang are primely located, which makes you wonder why the Sabah state government is not willing to contribute to the Renewable Energy Fund to get the people to enjoy the same benefit as of those in West Malaysia.
The levy is just 1% of the the monthly electricity bills and it affects only the bigger energy users, i.e, those paying more than RM77 per month.
Alternatively, the state government can set aside an annual budget and pay to the fund holders at SEDA Malaysia for the first, say, 3 years. Thereafter, let the consumers pay the 1% levy just like those in peninsula.
Best spots to generate renewable energy through solar - the northern states. Image credit: SEE Forum
TheGreenMechanics: Again, it's a shame Renewable Energy FiT is not applicable in Sabah.
Author's note: This article was edited for correction on 3 December 2019.
9 comments:
wow..
thanks for the valuable information..
maybe I should start to invest in PV installation since current electricity bill really made it a necessity~
that'd be wise!
plus, you could generate revenue from the installation. May not be that much, but good enough to offset the monthly electricity & telephone bills.
its a shame because sarawak want to implement their own SCORE programme, way back during SREP programme early 2001..
@Nur Iskandar Nasri -- That could be the reason why SREP only achieve about 61MW capacity between 2001 and 2010. But then again, RE in the Sarawak's SCORE are mostly big hydroelectric plants, which might not have qualified for SREP.
i would like to ask something for calculating the efficiency part.
the annual average value in kota kinabalu is 1900kWh/m^2. Assume the efficiency of 15%. 1900kwh/m^2 * 15/100 = 285 Watt per hour, the problem is the unit is kwh/m^2
It should get back 285kW instead of 285 Watt?
@Chin Kok Leong - You are right, the unit should be kWh per sq metre. Looking back, there's also flaw in the interpretation of solar irradiance data. Should be kWh per sq metre per year instead of "per hour".
I'll come back to edit the article. Thanks for highlighting.
The data is annual avg data not hourly data,, think again.
Dear Sir,
Wonderful article that provides a good overview of the irradiance in Malaysia.
Would it be possible to share the original research paper where more detailed references could be made?
Thank you.
Lao Zhu
I have updated the article and welcome a fruitful discussion.
Thanks
TGM
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