On
the 19th January 2014, I was invited to attend a site visit at
Melaka organized by Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia.
The aim of the visit is aiming to promote the awareness of renewable energy and
also Feed-in Tariff (FiT).
First
stop, Cooltek Energy Efficient House
We
were greeted by the owner of the house, Mrs. Stephanie Bacon. According to
Stephanie who is originated from England, the aim was to construct a simple,
easily maintainable home to be five times more efficient than a standard
Malaysian house also running air conditioning all day.
Notice
how spacious is the house and the natural lights are being used here in the
photo. Furthermore, we did not feel stuffy at all! According to Stephanie,
Cooltek has achieved zero energy cost as all the electricity required for her
house is generated through the solar panel on her rooftop.
These
are the highlights on how Cooltek becomes one of the most energy efficient
houses in Malaysia.
In
2012, Stephanie officially became one of the pioneers of Feed-in Approved
Holder (FiAH) in Malaysia through the 4.8kW solar system that she has
installed.
Stephanie
explained the specification of her photovoltaic (PV) array. As you can see, all
FiAH have two different meters at their premise. The meter on the left is
showing the electricity generated from the PV array while the meter on the
right is the normal TNB digital meter. On the other hand, the red box is known
as the inverter, where the direct current (DC) from the solar panel is being
converted into alternating current (AC) and connected with the utility grid.
The last picture shows that Stephanie is showing the monthly recorded data of
the solar energy generated. The FiT rate
(RM/kWh) that Stephanie is enjoying now is rated at RM1.46/kWh and the monthly
income from the FiT is around RM500-RM600.
Cooltek won 1st
Runner-up in the 8th ASEAN Renewable Energy Project Competition.
After
lunch, we moved on to our next stop – AUO Sunpower.
Source: http://www.auosunpower.com/
AUO
was formed in September 2001 by the merger of Acer Display Technology, INC.,
(the former of AUO, established in 1996) and Unipac Optoelectronics
Corporation. In October 2006, AUO merged with Quanta Display Inc. to create a larger
TFT-LCD manufacturer with more than 17% of the world’s large-sized TFT-LCD
market.
The
AUO SunPower building was also the first building in Malaysia to obtain LEED Platinum.
The
last stop of the day was KMB Solar Farm. The Malacca government is the first in
the country to build and operate its own solar farm, costing RM46 million, in
line with its mission to be a green technology city state by 2020. Built on a
7,248.43ha site at the Melaka World Solar Valley in Rembia Industrial Area,
this solar farm is able to produce 5MW of electricity and connected with the
main power grid. The project is divided into 3 phases and the FiT rate that it
is enjoying now stands at RM0.9016, RM0.98 and RM0.9016.
Notice
the solar farm is so close to the power grid, which is a positive thing as the
power loss from the transmission is close to zero.
It
was officiated back in December 2013
Encik Khairul, the chief
engineer for the solar farm.
A
clearer view of the solar farm.
Conclusion
This trip has been an eye-opener for most of us especially
on cool features of the Cooltek House. Here I would like give my extended
gratitude to SEDA Malaysia for the invitation. I truly believe for a future
where Malaysia solely depending on renewable energies will arrive.
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