Homeowners can apply for Solar Rooftop from Sept 24

I wrote an article recently about SEDA Malaysia's target of 2,000 house owners to invest in solar power through the feed-in tariff incentive by the end of this year.

The good news has finally arrived. A couple of weeks ago The Star reported that owners of landed homes can start applying for the 2000 quota starting September 24, 2012. They can do this by applying through  the e-FiT Online System.

Roof top solar PV installation for landed home. Photo: Solar Power Buzz


The 2000 Solar Home Rooftop Programme

SEDA chairman Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn told newsmen that the authority would allocate 2,000kW of solar photovoltaic (PV) for the fourth quarter of 2012 and 6,000kW for 2013 to home owners interested in generating electricity from their rooftops.

“A directory of the solar PV service providers will be available at Seda from Sept 18 to assist home owners,” he said in a statement.

Dr Fong said the programme was open to only individual residents and each application must comply with the Renewable Energy (Feed-in Approval and Feed-in Tariff Rate) Rules 2011 and Administrative Guidelines under the Renewable Energy Act.

An applicant can only submit one application per day through the e-FiT Online System at efit.seda.gov.my. The e-FiT Online System was made available for public access since Sept 18 after going through system enhancements. - The Star Online, 14-09-2012


Programme Summary:

Programme            : 2000 Solar Home Rooftop
Period                    : 4Q of 2012
Organised              : Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA)
Quota                    : 2 MW (4Q, 2012) and 6 MW (2013)
Eligibility                : Individual residents
How to apply          : Submit application through e-FIT online system. One application per day.
Investment return    : Expected ROI of 6 years
Earning                  : Average of RM500 per month for the REPPA of 21 years


Bad news for those who have applied earlier

If you have applied online prior to this date, your application would have been 'flushed out'. Meaning,  your applications would have been deleted. This is because of what SEDA described as 'upgrading'.

The Star (Sept.14, 2012):

"...Badriyah (CEO of SEDA) also said applications for feed-in approval that were sent earlier have been flushed out due to the system upgrade. She also encouraged interested applicants and prospective and renewable energy developers to attend Seda's roadshows which will be held soon to learn more about the programme."

For me this is a bad move (or weakness) by SEDA. The approval/quota is on first-come-first-served basis and because earlier applications are flushed out, they lost their advantages for registering early.

TheGreenMechanics: If you are eligible and you have what it takes to get it done on your landed home, go for it. Simple as that.


Abbreviations:
SEDA       - Sustainable Energy Development Authority
FiT           - Feed-in tariff
REPPA     - Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement

Over 750,000 homes in Australia now have rooftop solar

Australia is seeing a steady growth in the solar market.

The latest figures released by Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA) shows that more than 750,000 homes now feature solar photovoltaic panels. This brings total capacity, on home rooftops, to about 1.67 gigawatts(GW).

Small-scale solar PV. File picture: pv-magazine.com

The rate of installation slowed from 2011 after most states wound up their FIT schemes, but current trends shows that 600 MW is set to be added in 2012. In the next 12 months, Australia is forecasted to add another million houses with solar PV installed on their rooftops, with a capacity of over 2.3 GW.


Inspiring Australia

The State of Queensland remains the biggest in terms of installed capacity with 475 MW (see Table 1 below), followed by New South Wales with 435 MW. Queensland was one of the last states to wind back its FIT tariff, but gave installers and households approximately 12 months for a less troublesome transition to the new system.

Table 1: Numbers and installed capacity of solar, as at June 2012.

Figures derived from SEA website

The average system sizes recorded in June 2012 are around 2.84 kW and are expected to grow.

Back home, we have the FIT tariff and incentive by SEDA Malaysia that targets around 2,000 houseowners  in solar power investment this year, and 10,000 in 2013, which could earn them an average of RM500 monthly for 21 consecutive years. Of course this figure is a dwarf compared to Australia's three quarters of a million houses.

Australia's population as at December 2011 is around 22.6 million (ABS) with 1 million houses installed with solar PV this year. In comparison, our total population is around 28.6 million (Dec 2011) with probably less than 2,000 houses with solar PV. The climate and geographical location of Malaysia is better suited for solar power industry compared to a slightly temperate country like Australia, and lesser sun-radiated country like Germany.

We are very much at infancy stage but with the right approach, there is no stopping us from achieving similar ratio as that of Australia's. Very soon, for every 22 houses in Australia, there will be at least 1 with solar PV installed on its rooftop.

Do yo think you can see a solar PV system on a single rooftop in a 200-house housing estate anywhere in Malaysia? Take a walk sometime and observe.


References:
Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA)
Sustainable Energy Development Authority, Malaysia (SEDA)

SEDA targets 2,000 houseowners in Solar Power investment this year

A fortnight ago SEDA told newsmen in Putrajaya that it is targeting 2,000 house owners to invest in solar power through the feed-in tariff incentive. This is the non-industrial portion of the Solar PV quota for renewable energy sources which consist of four, namely Biomass, Small Hydro, Solar PV and Biogas.

Solar panels must be tilted to the correct orientation towards the sun. Photo: ontariosolarfarms.com

What is home Solar Power investment

Solar PV system is installed on your rooftop, you pay the initial investment and sign a contract with the utility (TNB, SESB, etc) for 21 years. Power generated from your rooftop would be sold to the utility at a premium rate. There is a feed-in tariff mechanism that governs this. Application is by online balloting and the process is free from human intervention.

A quick glance at SEDA portal showed that response for the individual FIT application is not very encouraging. This could partly be due to the financial constraint and the ability of the interested individuals to come up with the necessary down payment.

Interesting thing to note is the statement by the Chairman that the 2,000 quota is also open to house owners in Sabah. Previously Sabah quota has been suspended due to non-participation of the Sabahans in the 1% levy on their electricity bills.


Read the full article:
Putrajaya, July 13. 
The Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) has targeted 2,000 houseowners this year, and 10,000 the next, to invest in solar power which could earn the latter an average of RM500 monthly for 21 consecutive years.


Its chairman, Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn said, each house which had to be installed with solar panels could generate four kilowatts of power for sale to Tenaga Nasional Berhad. The biggest encumberance for mega participation in the renewable energy investment was the financial capital involved in the installation of the
project, he said.

"One kilowatt would incur a cost of RM10,000, so for four kilowatts, RM40,000.

"To encourage owners of terraced house, bungalows and low-cost houses, SEDA is in discussion with some commercial banks to ease the loan process," he said in a media conference here today.

Nevertheless, he said, despite the high investment, homeowners could expect to get back their capital after six years. Dr Fong said the 2,000 quota would be opened next month to houseowners in the peninsula and Sabah.

Rooftop solar PV

The picture below is how it looks like for the US Coast Guard rooftop solar arrays in Puerto Rico. They are among 2.89MW of solar, still to be completed, made possible by innovative financing.

Need one for your home?

Renovated Coast Guard rooftops with solar arrays. Photo: Energystorageblog

We too, have an innovative financing on feed-in tariff, FIT, for solar PV installations on our rooftops that works on the principle of forced-purchase by the utility companies for all energy produced and that will go on for 21 years. Good retirement plan if you like.

Downside is, everyone (big domestic and industrial energy consumer) will be the ones financing this FIT even if you don't necessarily get to install one on your rooftop. Never mind, being the big spender that you are, you'd probably won't need it, so, just give that quota to the needy.


About the Coast Guard solar PV

The $50million project is undertaken by Schneider Electric for installation of 2.89 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic panels on renovated Coast Guard rooftops over a 13-month period. The company is constructing 300 solar PV systems on the facilities resulting in guaranteed production of more than 4,000,000 kWH-hours per year.

The photovoltaic electricity production, combined with new cool roofs that will reduce the annual cooling load of the buildings by 3.9 billion BTU, will result in an overall reduction of utility-purchased electricity by an estimated 40%.


That's just cool!

Renewable energy solutions in Puerto Rico helps the Coast Guard meet federal mandates, reduces green house gas emissions, stabilises energy costs, and helps create green collar jobs in Puerto Rico. This project will have a significant impact on the industry there as there will be spin off business activities along with the solar jobs.

Cool.

Tax incentive for Renewable Energies?

Malaysia may have a law to help spur the development of renewable energy, reports Business Times. It says that the Ministry concerned has consulted TNB to get the power producer's input on the matter. If this happen then it would be a big step for Malaysia to embrace green technologies.

Malaysia is considered to be one of the major players in SE Asian nations in terms of renewable energy, but industry development wise, we are behind Thailand. Thailand has more renewable power connected to the country's power grid and this is where the Law (should there be any law enacted soon) can boost green energy in Malaysia.

According to TNB's renewal energy unit, Malaysia has about 67MW of power from renewable sources connected to the grid, while Thailand probably has about 10 times more.

Another South East Asian nation, the Philippines, have enacted its own RE law designed to expand the supply of electricity from RE sources in the country. The Philippines ways of doing it include:

Power plants using RE sources get income tax exemption for the first 7 years of operation.

Electricity generated from renewable sources receives preferential feed-in.

Targets 60% of its energy demand to be covered with its own RE resources by 2010.

Amazing! Malaysia should take cue of this and move fast. Do it big and do it now, or it will remain as just talk and dream.

Please take some time to further read here.