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

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.

Testing of Feed-in Tariff Application

Poor Very poor response.

That was my conclusion of the 3-day Gamma Testing of Feed-in Tariff Application on the e-FiT Online System. Only 50 nos feedback received as at the time of this posting, including myself.

My response page to SEDA

Say, 10% of the population (28.3mil in 2010) is aware of the Government Renewable Energy (RE) initiative and incentives. That would be 2.83 million and as we don't expect every 'aware' person to respond we'll take a 1% as poor. A humble one percent is 28,000 but would you actually believe that out of 100 persons being aware of a rewarding initiative only 1 or less person would respond?

If I tell 100 farmers that I have been blessed yesterday with a lot of money and I would reward anyone for planting paddy according to a prescribed method and for achieving certain quantity of rice produced, I am quite sure half of them would at least ask what sort of reward and how much can they expect to get in return.

In the case of Malaysia Feed-in Tariff, the lack of response from the public is a strong indication that the population at large is not aware of such reward program. What we hear on the mainstream media is the government's commitment to reduce the CO2 emission and the policies drafted to achieve this. What we don't hear is that you and me can take part in achieving this and at the same time reaping monetary benefit from our participation.

Energy Commission is quite aggressive in promoting energy efficiency in this country, and SEDA should emulate EC's effort by:

1. Conducting nationwide workshops, seminars and trainings on Renewable Energy initiatives, its objectives and their benefits to the people,
2. Gamma test - redo the gamma test during weekdays, after publicizing it through the mainstream media,
3. Advertisement - consider this as business venture and advertise it periodically. Don't keep things at SEDA office.

I have mentioned nationwide but I'll stress it again that SEDA need and must conduct seminars and promotional activities in Sabah and Sarawak. After all these two are the least served states in Malaysia in terms of electricity supply.

Give them alternatives to generate their own electricity through Renewable Energy.

ONLINE Testing of Feed-in Tariff

Image source: SEDA Malaysia



SEDA Malaysia will release a test version of the e-FiT Online System for Gamma testing on the Feed-in Tariff Application.







The online test will be carried out as follows:

Date: 10:00 am 5th Nov 2011 to 5:00 pm on 7th Nov 2011.
URL: www.seda.gov.my/gamma (to be activated at 9:55 am on 5th Nov 2011)
Send in your feedback by : 8th Nov 2011.

Members of the public are welcome to test and provide their feedback to SEDA Malaysia by Tuesday, 8th November 2011 to fit@seda.gov.my or by filling the feedback online form :

Feedback on the Feed-in Tariff Application via the e-FiT Online System

If Feed-in Tariff (FiT) is new to you, you may want to read about it here:

1) Incentive for Renewable Energy
2) Generate Electricity at home and EARN MONEY
3) FiT - Critical Success Factors

Or, read all about FiT at SEDA Malaysia website here.

Stay tuned!