26
SOLAR
@green | July-August, 2020
Power from the sun
PV technology is very
scalable
Michael Schmela
Hussam Sultan
SEDA Malaysia has made a clarion call on
Malaysians to capitalise on its Net Energy
Metering (NEM) scheme and make the most
of the country’s solar energy potential due to
its strategic location in the equatorial zone.
This call was made to hundreds of viewers
at home during the fourth phase of the
national Movement Control Order (MCO)
imposed by the government as a result of the Covid-19
outbreak.
At its inaugural webinar entitled “Invest in the Sun: What
Covid-19 has taught us” on Apr 28, 2020, SEDA Malaysia
pooled experts to deliver talks on investment in solar PV for
the rooftop in Malaysia and the relevance of such investment
at the pandemic period.
The speakers were Taiyang News Managing Director
Michael Schmela; SEDA Malaysia Chief Strategic Officer
Dr Wei-nee Chen; Malaysian Investment Development
Authority (MIDA) Green Technology Senior Deputy Director
Zulina Mohamed; Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry
Association (MPIA) Secretariat Head Lionel Yap; TNBX
Sdn Bhd Managing Director Ir. Nirinder Singh Johl; and
CIMB Islamic Bank Commercial & Transaction Banking
Regional Head Hussam Sultan.
According to Sustainable Energy Malaysia, the webinar
received overwhelming response with more than 500
attendees from the public and specifically the commercial
sector, including international viewers.
In his keynote address at the webinar, SEDA Malaysia’s
CEO Ir. Dr Sanjayan Velautham said the Covid-19 pandemic
had drastically altered mankind’s daily lives and exposed
the vulnerability of world economies.
“Attention is drawn towards economic recovery packages.
Malaysia is no exception. The government rolled out
a series of economic stimulus packages to help the various
sectors. To this effect, the government at the end of February
2020 announced the economic stimulus package which
consists of 1,400MW of solar PV to be awarded,” he said.
“Of the 1,400MW, 1,000MW will be for the large-scale
solar (LSS) projects and, importantly for rooftop installations,
300MW for the domestic, commercial, industrial
and agricultural sectors while 100MW for government
buildings.”
Sanjayan said the Covid-19 crisis was already reshaping
attitudes. The new realities for different policy approaches
would require broader public briefings on the investment
on low carbon systems. This would pay off significantly
when compared to the cost accounting from the health and
environmental damages.
Schmela presented a talk on the status of the global solar
PV market in times of Covid-19 where he shared, among
others, developments in China with regards to solar PV
production and the demand as well as its price trend.
He noted the Covid-19 pandemic had not helped much in
the pursuit of promoting solar PV as only a few countries had
included solar PV development in their economic recovery
packages. He lauded countries like Japan, Switzerland and
Malaysia for including solar energy intervention measures
in their respective packages.
Schmela anticipated global projects and sales related
to solar PV to be somewhat delayed due to the pandemic
outbreak but expected the situation to return to normal as
of 2021/22. This, however, hinged on the effectiveness of
the economic stimulus packages.
He said an oversupply situation was looming in the
solar PV industry as the producers continued to ramp-up
output while demand remained stagnant as a result of the
pandemic. This would subsequently drive the solar PV
prices down.
Chen, in her presentation on the NEM programme, told
the participants of the Webinar that the NEM programme
was fast gaining acceptance in Malaysia. She said the NEM
programme was instrumental in democratising the country’s
energy generation system via the solar PV technology,
hence giving the public a role in generating clean energy
while lowering the carbon footprint.
“PV technology is very scalable. It is perhaps the only
renewable technology that truly democratises electricity
and allows the public at large to take part in energy transition
so that we can together flatten the climate curve,” she
added.
Digital platform to trade
P2P allows
consumers to
purchase green
electricity and
contribute to
sustainable
environment
Peer-TO-peer (P2P) energy trading is a concept that
allows the buying and selling of energy between two or
more grid-connected parties.
It uses a digital platform to process the trading which
derives from the energy transaction between the energy
producers (prosumers) and the buyers (consumers).
Furthermore, P2P energy trading allows the consumer to
purchase green electricity and contribute to a sustainable
environment.
According to Sustainable Energy Malaysia, there are
several P2P energy trading platforms available around the
world to support business and community projects.
Globally, several projects have been ongoing for the
P2P energy trading. The International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) has proposed P2P energy trading as a
business model which involves an online marketplace
where consumers and distributed energy suppliers transact
electricity at the desired price. It will also allow the
consumer to buy green energy directly from the prosumers
using emergency technologies such as blockchain.
Furthermore, P2P has been proven to reduce the energy
price for the customers up to 30 per cent such as in Germany.
Another Asian country which is running such a pilot
project is Thailand.
In Malaysia, under the study for Renewable Energy
Transition Roadmap (RETR) the P2P energy trading has
been identified as one of the initiatives to encourage the
solar PV rooftop installation.
According to Infinite Energy Australia, P2P energy trading
provides several potential benefits as below: People
without the rooftop can still buy renewable energy from the
solar panels at a reasonable price from their neighbours.
Reduction of electricity transportation costs since the
energy are transported within the distribution system.
Traceability of the renewable energy generation source.
Furthermore, the use of blockchain technology can help
maintain immutability of energy transaction.
Malaysia has started a P2P energy trading pilot project
since October 2019. The pilot project’s duration was for
eight months, starting from November 2019 until June
2020. The pilot project was conducted by SEDA Malaysia
under the sandbox regulatory approved by the Energy
Commission.
The purpose of the pilot run is to conduct a technical
feasibility study for Malaysia to implement the P2P energy
trading in the future. In tandem with the Malaysian Electricity
Supply Industry (MESI 2.0), P2P energy trading
provides customers a choice to buy the green electricity
from the market using a digital technology provided by the
energy trading platform.
Under the P2P energy trading pilot run, the project was
divided into two phases namely:
• Alpha: Technical feasibility study without a commercial
transaction. Simulation using actual participants meter
data.
• Beta: Pilot run with the commercial transaction between
prosumers, consumers and utility company (TNB).
To operate the P2P energy trading pilot run, below are
the important components:
i. Prosumers
ii. Consumers
iii. RMR Meter
iv. Billing system
v. P2P energy trading platform
P2P energy trading allows buying and selling of energy
between two or more grid-connected parties. Using the
concept of arbitraging the existing regulated electricity
tariff between the prosumers and consumers, participants
are selected based on the criteria below:
Prosumers
• Existing NEM applicant with minimum 1000kWh
excess energy to the grid each month
• Existing TNB tariff below RM0.40 per kWh
Consumers
• Good historical bill payment