Implementing A Photovoltaic System In Kota Kinabalu For Renewable Energy

Background

The prosperity of human civilization has always been made on the cost of natural environment. From the destruction of natural habitat to extinction of various species of flora and fauna, it is achieved that because of greed and sometime will to survive (Kardooni, Yusoff & Kari, 2016). In Spite of this, many of us have always strived to protect natural flora and fauna and this has led us to try any different alternative sources of energy that might help us in eliminating extra burden from mother earth.

Keeping the spirit in mind, the governments of Malaysia have invited large private business houses to search and develop any potential alternative sources of energy in the Sabah region of the country. There are many obvious reasons for the choice of Sabah as the initial destination of pursuing different sources of alternative energy. The Malaysian government has been getting enormous success for achieving renewable energy mark that is the set target to be achieved by 2050 (Bujang, Bern & Brumm, 2016). In addition, Sabah is a key element to its target of achieving that since it has wide array of potential that needs to be exploited by the private entities for helping the country to achieve the desired target by 2050.

Sabah, the northern state of Malaysia has any unread potential of becoming the leading state for Malaysia to set an example for other state to follow on the terms of Renewable energy. There are various untapped alternative sources of energy are there in Sabah. REASabah was created in 2015 to form a group which where to include all the stakeholders in the quest for any greener alternative to the existing energy structure of the country (Alam et al., 2016). This included the entire involved governmental organisation along with various developers of green energy initiative in Malaysia. Private entities and various other accommodations along with consultant where also included in this. It was decided unanimously by the team that Solar energy along with wind energy are the most sustainable sources of energy that needs to to tapped in the region of Sabah. There was also a notion among the team that since coal energy has been in depreciation throughout the world, efforts should be made by the state executive to reduce the amount of dependency of the coal energy sector of Sabah (Oh et al., 2017). Since, the most sustainable source of renewable energy that is available in Sabah is solar energy; it would try to analyze all the different aspect of this throughout the report that would be helpful to set up the business in the particular place.

Designing the PV System

The objective of the business proposal is as followed.

• To identify the most potential renewable energy source for business setup
• To analyze the significance of implementing solar energy in terms of resulting in successful business through technical and financial analysis

Design

From the given scenario of Malaysia to achieve a target of 50% renewable energy, it is suggested that a Photovoltaic (PV) system could be implemented in Kota Kinabalu. It has been found that the annual solar radiation being received by the region is 182W/m². Hence, it is proposed that a Photovoltaic (PV) system will serve as the source of renewable energy and it will be capable of producing 29,794 kWh/m² electricity from the solar radiation being received per year. The major components that will be installed in the system are PV module, Battery, Charge regulator, Invertor, Back-up generator, DC/AC loads as illustrated in figure 1 below:

Figure 1: Major components of PV system

(Source: Ambrose et al., 2017, p.9126)

Data analysis

From the data gathered on electricity demand of Sabah in the year 2007 to 2013, it has been found that there was annual average of 6.78% and from 2014 to 2013, it is expected to grow at a rate of 5.13% annually. In the table below, peak demand and load forecast in context to generation of electricity has been presented where the peak demand of electricity by the year 2020 is estimated to be 1,331 MW.

Year	Generation (GWh)	Peak Demand (MW)
2010	4726	773
2011	4940	830
2012	5147	828
2013	5506	874
2014	5831	917
2015	6253	983
2016	6687	1050
2017	7132	1119
2018	7593	1190
2019	8068	1263
2020	8511	1331

Table 1: Load forecast in long term

(Source: Umar, Jennings & Urmee, 2014, p.44)

Figure 2: Electricity Generation Mix of 2013

(Source: Kardooni, Yusoff & Kari, 2015, p.1354)

From the above data, it has been identified that presently solar energy is not being used as an alternative source of energy. The increase in peak demand of electricity could be easily supplemented by the proposed Photovoltaic (PV) system.

The major process to identify the existing problems and prevent future issues that may occur in Photovoltaic (PV) system is to conduct thorough site and visual inspection. The operations of the systems will be ensured through maintenance activities carried out on a periodic basis. The operations of the system could be completed efficiently so that the desired objectives are achieved. The main operation of the Photovoltaic (PV) system is to act as an alternative source of energy that is renewable energy so that Malaysia could achieve the target of 50% renewable energy. The PV systems will be operated in the city of Kota Kinabalu to suffice the energy requirements of Sabah.

There are various ways through maintenance can be carried out for the Photovoltaic (PV) system from which scheduled maintenance is the most effective ones to support the desired goals and objectives. The maintenance activities will comprise of inspecting the site on an annual basis and visual inspection on a regular basis to check components of the Photovoltaic (PV) system. The maintenance procedure will ensure that the inspection of the system is thorough and accurate such that operations can be carried out successfully. The maintenance of the system will be carried out in the following manner:

Data Analysis

General Site inspection: Inspection of the PV installation site will be carried out once a year by O&M personnel.

Visual inspection: The installation will be inspected on a regular basis to check for issues that may impact the physical integrity as well as performance of the Photovoltaic (PV) system.

Testing and maintenance activities will be implemented for the system so that the workers working on or nearby the system will be able to check the insulation resistance.

Troubleshooting and servicing: The focus will be given on maximizing the production from system thus there will be servicing of the components on a regular basis. Back-up and disaster recovery plans will be developed to ensure the immediate response can be provided in case of any failure or emergency.

Profits

The profits that will be achieved from the project has been determined and calculated as shown in the below table:

Discount Rate Used	6.00%
Annual Benefits	$   140,000.00
Annual Operational Costs	$     23,050.00
One-Time Development Cost	$   178,890.00

			Year of Project
	0	1	2	3	4	5	TOTAL
Economic Benefit	$0.00	$140,000.00	$140,000.00	$140,000.00	$140,000.00	$140,000.00
Discount Rate	1.0000	0.9434	0.8900	0.8396	0.7921	0.7473
PV of Benefits	$0.00	$132,075.47	$124,599.50	$117,546.70	$110,893.11	$104,616.14
NPV of all BENEFITS	$0.00	$132,075.47	$256,674.97	$374,221.67	$485,114.79	$589,730.93	$589,730.93
One-Time COSTS	$(178,890.00)
Recurring Costs	$0.00	$(23,050.00)	$(23,050.00)	$(23,050.00)	$(23,050.00)	$(23,050.00)
Discount Rate	1.0000	0.9434	0.8900	0.8396	0.7921	0.7473
PV of Recurring Costs	$0.00	$(21,745.28)	$(20,514.42)	$(19,353.22)	$(18,257.76)	$(17,224.30)
NPV of all COSTS	$(178,890.00)	$(200,635.28)	$(221,149.70)	$(240,502.93)	$(258,760.68)	$(275,984.99)	$(275,984.99)

Payback Period Calculation
	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Net economic benefit		$140,000	$140,000	$140,000	$140,000	$140,000
One time cost	($178,890)	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Recurring cost	$0	($23,050)	($23,050)	($23,050)	($23,050)	($23,050)
Net cash flow	($178,890)	$116,950	$116,950	$116,950	$116,950	$116,950
Discount factors
Discount rate	6%
Year Index	0	1	2	3	4	5
Discount factor	1	0.94	0.89	0.84	0.79	0.75
Discounted flows
Cost	($178,890)	($21,745)	($20,514)	($19,353)	($18,258)	($17,224)
Benefit	$0	$132,075	$124,600	$117,547	$110,893	$104,616
Net	($178,890)	$110,330	$104,085	$98,193	$92,635	$87,392
Cumulative	($178,890)	($68,560)	$35,525	$133,719	$226,354	$313,746
Net present value	$313,746
NPV in fraction	2.137
IRR	59%
Payback Analysis
Fraction Row	–	–	9.79425876	5.08	19.10	32.34
Partial years for negative cash flow	9.79
Payback Period in Years	9.79

The payback period for the Photovoltaic (PV) system development project has been calculated as 9.79 years. The investment for the development project will be recovered after a period of 9.79 years. The detailed calculation is presented in the table as below:

Return on Investment (ROI)

The Return on Investment (ROI) has been calculated to be 78% means that it is ensured that profits and revenue will be generated from the project as it has a positive value. ROI reflects that there is the investment cost will be definitely recovered from the project and there will be no loss if the project is being undertaken.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it can be stated that there is an enormous opportunity to set up business in Sabah. The above discussed technical and commercial analysis proves that implementation of solar energy as potential renewable energy source would be helpful to setup a successful business. Additionally, as the open bidding process has already done for the projects  of between 1Mw and 50 Mw as well as 18 organizations have identified for potential operators, setting up objectives, technical and financial analysis would be helpful to determine the business setup in Sabah.

In the recent years in Malaysia, there is been any research that is been carried out on the development of more alternative sources of energy which is aligned with the commitment of the nation of achieving 50% renewable energy by 2050 (Umar, Jennings & Urmee 2014). Many academicians that household in Malaysia consumes majority of the energy that is produced by the different powerhouses and this data is synonymous in both rural as well as an urban area of Malaysia found it out. It was also found out that the biggest consumer of household electricity is the Air Conditioning appliances with of 21% of total energy consumption followed by 2% consumption of energy by fans because of the temperate climate present in Malaysia.

Maintenance Procedure

It is clearly seen that to decrease the dependency on the traditional sources of energy by the population, it is important to invest the capital in knowing a wide array of ways in which can reduce the energy consumption in household (Bakhtyar et al., 2014). These energies can be saved by effective implementation of passive technology in homes. This is the reason why more and more people in Malaysia are attracted by the passive housing.

The idea of passive housing is not new to Malaysian culture, in fact, there is much housing in the district of Penang where a similar use of passive housing in the 19th and 20th century. Colonial-era architect along with Chinese developed most of the passive housing architecture. There is around 7000 unit of houses are there in Penang that serve as a marvel that the use of long arches and column, louvered doors along with sheltered hallway and air wells.

In today’s world of passive housing in Malaysia, the main purpose to build them is not solely for the purpose of protection for the hot and humid climate rather it is used for optimizing and decreasing the dependency of the home on the traditional sources of energy. In passive housing, the Sun’s energy i.e the solar energy is the most important aspect of it. There is also a requirement of low-energy consuming devices in the house to avoid larger energy consumption (Basri et al., 2015). The accumulation of rainwater and the rainwater harvesting is very vital for avoiding wastage of rainwater and reusing it.

 There are various elements of a passive housing. Let us discuss them in details.

1. Energy Saving

Every passive house must be a self-sufficient house on the energy space. The house should not be depended wholly for the supply of energy from external powerhouse rather should be energy producing (Shaikh et al., 2017). The design of the house is to make keeping in mind is geographical location and entry of daylight in the house which would further reduce the energy requirement of the house.

1. Water Saving

Water is the greatest need and requirement of survival on Earth. Appliances should be installed in the house to economize the water usage. Rainwater harvesting should also be made use of in the passive house as it saves a lot of water and reduces water wastage.

1. Material

The variety of material that will be used in the house should be local and natural as far as possible. This is done to reduce any severe impact on the local environment and also to improve the local economy. The use of plastics, as well as other contaminating material, should be completely avoided (Fazeli et al., 2016). These measures not only reduce environmental degradation but are also beneficial in increasing the quality of the decoration and building standards.

1. Ventilation

Profits

The use of large and sufficient cross-ventilation in the room is very important to avoid any requirement of air conditioning even in hot and humid days.

1. Heating and Insulation

The insulation of the house is necessary in the winter season to avoid any extra capital that will then be invested to install a heating system (Kumaran et al., 2016). The design and internal architecture of the house should be laid out in such a manner that it is hot in winter and moderate in summer.

Now that it is discussed about various utility and benefit of Passive housing, let us now focus on the objective and various things that need to be considered while designing a passive house in Malaysia.

• Weather

 The local weather is always an important aspect while designing passive homes. The product that is to be used in the house should be present in the local market which will also assist the designers and contractors of the house to build the house in the shortest possible time.

• Price

The economic aspect of realizing a passive house should also be carefully chalked out so that there is no future issue of capital once the project has been started. The price will be based on the product that is to be used in the making of the house (Ambrose et al., 2017). The woods, for example, will cost more than the brick house and might be more sustainable in terms of its usability.

• Availability

The availability of the product is also an important criterion for selecting the product that will be used in the majority of the designed passive home. Keeping in mind the location and climate of Malaysia; it is advisable that woods should be the first choice as the product in implementing the design of the passive house.

There are building in Malaysia that have stood as the pioneer in the field of passive building and have a sustainable and independence model of energy integrated with their design. These buildings act like a marvel in itself especially considering the fact that Malaysia is moving swiftly in achieving the target of 50% renewable energy by 2050 (Sen & Bhattacharyya, 2014). All the discussed theories that are to be implemented in a passive building have been done throughout Malaysia for decades. Let us now take a few examples among these building and see how they have adapted to the various norms of the green and passive building ideas.

St Diamond Building

This eight-story building, which also serves as a base office for Energy commision of Malaysia, has won the 1st prize by the ASEAN Center for Energy in the ASEAN Energy awards. The specialty of this building is that it uses only one-third of the total energy that might be consumed by the structure that is of the same size. This building utilizes natural light for its optimization (Halabi, Al-Qattan, & Al-Otaibi, 2015). The building is fitted with PV Solar panels (Photovoltaic) which are equipped in generating over 10% of the total energy that is consumed by the building. In addition to this, St Diamond also has an in-house water harvesting plant that utilizes all the rainwater that is sufficient for over 80% of the water usage in the building. The inverted pyramid shape of the building helps it to accommodate much more roof space for fitting solar panel than any tradition shaped building (Chong et al., 2015). The plantation in those spaces is also a key innovative design that the building provides which facilitates greenery.

The International Convention Centre that is located in Putrajaya, Malaysia, is also an early example of the building that was designed keeping in mind low energy consumption and power. The annual visitors that visit this place are over 15000 along with over 300,000 delegates that arrive here for various conferences.

The front side of the convention center is engrafted that uses various elements for insulation as well as airflow.  The structure of the roof is similar to that of the origami which also houses all the PV Solar panel which are responsible for delivering most of the energy of the convention center (Khorasanizadeh et al., 2015). The usage of glass wall is predominant as well as the internal layout of the building so that natural light can be allowed at all time. Granary is an integral part of the building architecture and so there are many green spaces all around the area. Rainwater harvesting is also done in the area of the building that reduces the need of most of the water and also makes the building water and energy sufficient.

Probably among the best passive sports complex in Malaysia, the Penang Sports complex uses all the elements of green and sustainable technology. All the energy that is required by the sports complex is generated in-house in the complex through the Solar panel. The water that is required by its gigantic Olympic size swimming pool is also obtained through rainwater harvesting and through the reuse of the water that is there in the pool (Sovacool & Drupady, 2016). This two-storey building has many high power PV cells that are charged through the efficient use of solar energy. The work in the sports complex has been done following all the necessary and detailed help that was given by the GBI(Green Building Index), country’s top governmental organization that assist different architects in building these passive buildings (Gill, Viswanathan & Hassan, 2018). The complex uses renewable sources of energy and is vastly independent in terms of energy and water requirement.

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