Solar panels in homes

To make solar energy as a main renewable source of energy is to make sure more efficient,
affordable and less carbon-emitting solar panels would be in mass production.

The question is, has Malaysia, a tropical country which spearheaded automobile production very
early on, ever taken any initiative in R&D of solar-powered automobile and technology besides
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) in Johor?

Note that even high school students in more advanced nations are involved in solar-powered
vehicles R&D.

Also, the government has to ensure the photovoltaic (PV) system is readily affordable for both off-
and on-grid home usage.

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The present cost of installing a home on-grid PV system may be between RM60,000 to RM100,000
to power an upper-middle-income household, and it may take more than seven years to recoup the
investment after the abolition of the Feed-In-Tariff (FiT) system by the Sustainable Energy
Development Authority (Seda).

This is beyond the means of an average lower or middle-income Malaysian household if no financing
scheme is provided.

It seems very unattractive for lower-income groups to install solar panels in their homes at the
moment, which is prohibitively expensive unless government policies are introduced to encourage
the mass production of the PV system and make it more affordable.

A good option is to consider is incentives for financiers who offer a hire-and-purchase or lease
contract system for the lower-income households.
Government policies should provide incentives for the main electricity supplier to provide flexible FiT
systems to small-scale users and more effective mass research and production of the PV system.

With the abolition of FiT to commercial usage being replaced by net-metering system starting 2017,
it is still lucrative for the industrial and commercial sectors with electricity bill in excess of
RM30,000 per month to install the solar PV system for their own usage.

Also, schools and other community facilities could also get good returns from investing in the FiT
system.

Other measures that should be taken into considerations to encourage the use solar energy should
include the off-grid standalone system for remote inland areas that do not have access to electricity
and replacing street lights under municipal councils with LED street lights.

Solar can trump Pengerang Rapid

Futuristic renewable energy sources are real and will shape the future energy market. However,
have we showed enough determination to achieve an emission-free society?

Instead of investing in renewable energy sources and a sustainable economy, the government has
invested billions of ringgit in fossil fuel such as the Pengerang Rapid project.

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