Thursday, November 25, 2010

Back to Photovoltaic (PV)/ Solar Power History

What is history behind Photovoltaic (PV) or solar power since the year 1955? 
PV cells were started to use in space application such as power up the satelitte. And today 2010 , overwhelming demand from Renewable energy sector had contributed higher growth of production of PV cells annually.Big scale of Solar Power Plants with total capacity up to Mega Watt (MW) are widely installed in most of develop countries. Just take a snapshoot on the four major phases for PV market:
  • Space age,
  • Off Grid PV,
  • Rooftop ,
  • On Grid and
  • PV Power plants.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Malaysia Toyota Prius Fuel Performance-Update

A good friend of mine, Mr Foo spent his last weekend at Kelantan (located at North of Penisular Malaysia) and of course his red Toyota Prius hybrid car become his family vehicle.
This long distance balik kampung trip (go back to hometown ) took about 7 and 1/2 hours driving  from Kuala Lumpur to Pangkalan kubur, Kelantan. Here, he would like to share the fuel performance of his Toyota Prius as shown as below.



Distance Covered Kula Lumpur to Kota Bahru

One way:  566.6km

Fuel: RON97 Synergy F1 (ESSO MOBIL)-RM2.15 per litre

Money spent on fuel :RM82.00 for fuel tank (38.138 litre)

Km balance recorded in Prius Fuel Meter (Dashboard) =191km
Total miledge achieved: 757kM


My previous Post about Toyota Prius
 
How much you will spend on Toyota Prius Maintenance?
UMW Toyota sets new lower price for Prius
All About Toyota Prius In Malaysia

Monday, November 22, 2010

UPM-First Wind Turbine Hybrid with Solar Panel

Recently, Our Malaysia local university-University Putra Malaysia (UPM) had kick start the Renewable Energy (RE) Initiative by installing few units of stylish wind turbines and solar panels in UPM-Serdang main campus.
The technical data such as the size of wind turbines and solar panels are shown as below:

Technical Data For photovoltaic (PV)


Total PV power: 2700 Watts
Powered by: Solar Hybrid UPS

Technical Data For Wind Turbines


1 Unit : 300W Wind Turbine
1 Unit: 1500W Wind Turbine
1 Unit: 3000W Wind Turbine

Total Capacity : 7500W ( 7.5kW)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

ETI Tech Corp Bhd (ETI) (0118) is in talks with the Perak state government to jointly set up an energy storage plant

ETI Tech Corp Bhd (ETI) (0118) is in talks with the Perak state government to jointly set up an energy storage plant at a designated green technology park in Meru, near Ipoh.


Its executive director Y.K. Khor said if the plan materialises, the company, which provides renewable energy storage solutions, expects to spend some RM100 million on the plant and related equipment.

"Each year, we plough in tens of millions into research and development and buying of equipment for the development of our business.

"If we build a factory by next year, we need to spend up to RM100 million," he told Business Times in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

Khor said the project will also depend on the utilisation and volume capacity of its existing facility in the Kulim High Technology Park, Kedah.

"When our volume increases beyond what we can take versus our current volume right now, we may have to start thinking of moving or expanding this factory.

"We foresee this movement of factory, pending further detailed discussion (with Perak government) but may start (building the factory) as early as next year," he said.

Khor said ETI is looking at buying between 2ha and 4ha of land for the factory.

"We still have 2.8ha of land in Kulim, which is ready for expansion," he said.

ETI, listed on Bursa Malaysia's Main Market, also has a research and development centre in Penang.

The company sees the potential of establishing a new facility in Perak in view of the state government's aspiration to harness green energy and technology.

"The Perak government is very keen on driving green energy campaign in the state. By mid-2011, the state government may ban the use of various forms of lead acid batteries within its agencies. This augurs well with our business operations and activities," Khor said.

Friday, November 12, 2010

'Green motorcycles' set to make debut next year

Friday November 12, 2010


'Green motorcycles' set to make debut next year

PETALING JAYA: After years of waiting, Malaysians will get to ride on electric motorcycles or "green bikes" once the machines make their debut next year.

JPJ director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the Road Transport Act 1987 was being amended to exempt the requirement for the machines to have engine numbers before they can be registered.

Among the features of the "green bike" are:

● The lithium battery-powered machine offers the same performance of a 125cc petrol-powered motorcycle.

● It will be priced slightly above RM10,000.

● Modenas says it is ready to launch its electric motorcycle within the new few months.


source: The star
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/12/nation/7416126&sec=nation

Previous Post
All about Electric Motorcycle

Thursday, November 11, 2010

You can make electricity at home and sell it to TNB

Thursday November 11, 2010


KUALA LUMPUR: The soon-to-be implemented feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism under the Renewable Energy (RE) Act will enable individuals to earn income by selling electricity generated from renewable resources at home.

Under the RE Act, the public will be able to sell electricity generated from RE to utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Sarawak Energy Bhd at a fixed rate for a specific period.

RE/Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic Technology Application (MBIPV) national project team leader and chief technical adviser Ahmad Hadri Haris said that under the RE Act, consumers can install their own renewable resources such as solar panel at home and would be a secondary income for consumers.

Consumer producing 4KW of electricity at home will be earning more than RM400 a month. It will be a secondary income generator,” he told StarBiz at the sideline of Malakoff Corp Bhd’s 3rd Energy Expert Series yesterday.

Ahmad said consumers would also be able to offset potential tariff hike by setting up RE such as solar panels at home.

A normal house needs 4KW while the capital required is about RM60,000. However, with FiT, consumers need to pay only 10%, or RM6,000 while the rest will be borne as a loan from a bank.

The monthly income generated from the 4KW will be RM696 and the monthly repayment is RM456 to the bank, thus earning consumers a net cash of RM240 per month,” Ahmad said.

MBIPV is a national project under the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry to promote the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology to tap solar energy and generate electricity for buildings.

Ahmad said the Government was currently in the process of preparing the Act for a first reading in parliament next month.

He said two Acts would need to be passed in parliament for the RE to take off in the country. The first RE Act would focus on RE while the second act was to empower the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) which will oversee the implementation of RE.

It is part of the Government’s plan to boost renewable energy contribution to Malaysia’s electricity-generation mix from less than 1% in 2009 to around 5.5% by 2015 and to 11% of all electricity generated nationwide in 2020.

Consumers may have to be prepared to pay a little bit more for their monthly electricity bills to support the higher charges being levied on RE next year. A 1% tariff hike to cover cost associated with the FiT scheme may come into force as early as January.

Ahmad said it would be a very minimal impact given that 1% of a RM100 electricity bill would cost RM1. He said some 56% of the nation would not be impacted as they consume less than 200kwh a month.

“Cost of FiT is about 1% incorporated into the electricity tariff for high consumption only (more than 200kwh a month).

“Also 1% is only 0.31 sen/kwh, so it is almost unnoticeable. In return, consumers can generate income from FiT,” Ahmad said.

"FiT is not a subsidy. It is a market support mechanism. It provides an opportunity for all to generate income from producing RE at home,” Ahmad said.

He said the Government would educate the public with an awareness campaign so that consumers can understand the FiT scheme.

The Government has set a target for 2,080 MW or 11% of all electricity generated nationwide in 2020 to be sourced from environment-friendly RE. Currently, less than 1% of the total electricity is generated from RE. In the short term, the Government has set a target of 5.5% of electricity to be generated by RE by 2015.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Perak mini-hydro plant project set to take off soon

Saturday November 6, 2010


Perak mini-hydro plant project set to take off soon
IPOH: Perak is set to have its first ever environment-friendly mini-hydro plant to generate electricity.

Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the RM10mil plant could generate up to 10MW of electricity and the project was expected to take off soon.

“It is capable of generating enough electricity to support a small town,” he said.

Dr Zambry had earlier witnessed the signing of the memorandum of agreement between Perak Hydro­renewable Energy Corporation Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-Il Anuar Wan Ahmad, China Science and Tech­nology International Supply Corp­oration board chairman Liang Bing and Bumi International Energy Sdn Bhd executive director Dzahir Jamudin yesterday.

“We will also be looking into the possibility of expanding the plant to generate up to 30MW,” he added.

He said power would be generated through technology that uses streaming water current, adding that it was in line with the state’s stance to support and adopt the National Green Technology Policy.

source:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/6/nation/7377163&sec=nation

Monday, November 8, 2010

DiGi to cut carbon footprint by 50pc in 2011

DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 50 per cent next year, said its chief executive officer (CEO) Henrik Clausen.


The company has managed to reduce it by 38 per cent since its participation in this initiative, from 2008.


"Over the past few years, we have been conscientiously looking at ways to address energy efficiency and explore the use of more sustainable sources of energy in our operations," he told reporters after the "Challenge for Change" award ceremony, here today.

"From incorporating smart green equipment for our networks, to moderating electricity consumption and reducing paper usage, we have embedded a greener way of running our business in working to help cultivate a low carbon operation," he added.

Also present at the ceremony was the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

"One of the issues about green buildings is, people think it is costly to build. But, this is only in the initial stage as proven by green buildings in the United States and Europe, with money saved in terms of maintenance cost for the future," said Saifuddin.

He also believes, the need for skilled workers in the green technology area is now increasing and would create a lot of job opportunities for local graduates in future.

The Challenge for Change, is a component of DiGi's Deep Green programme that reaches out to the community, as part of its efforts to reduce the shared climate impact via the development and practice of innovative solutions. --Bernama


Read more: DiGi to cut carbon footprint by 50pc in 2011 http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20101104172958/Article/index_html#ixzz14JYoDEq7

Sunday, November 7, 2010

绿色这条道路上

绿色这条道路上


財经评论 2010-11-04 17:02

最近財政预算案中,政府宣佈延长一些“绿色”措施,这些措施的生效与运作,需要一些时间去酝酿、发酵,才能见到成果。


有关措施是对直接、间接投入再生能源的企业,提供一些税务优惠与奖掖,以达到节能减碳的目的。

这项措施是政府贯彻节能减碳、减少温室效应的部份努力。凡属再生能源、节能工业与减低温室效应等活动,可在2011年財政预算案以后两年,获延长系列税务优惠与奖掖。实质奖掖包括:参与再生能源发电的公司,可获得长达10年法定收入免税的新兴工业地位。

大马有很多生物质量,最为人所熟知的是油棕的枝叶或其他生物性废料等。根据採访一些企业后得知,一些企业的“废物利用措施”所生產的能源,足以补贴企业所需能源。

一些时候,相关企业还有剩余能源,但目前遗憾是仍未能把这些过剩能源,卖回给国家能源(TENAGA),以及导入国家的电流输送系统中。

根据首相署经济策划署一份报告指出,大马於明年有1%的再生能源电力,將导入有关系统中。

大马应该制定一项能源效益大蓝图,全方位检討目前在各个缺口的浪费,这不仅减少长期的能源消耗与浪费,更重要的是达致减碳与避免地球继续升温。


节能减碳从教育做起

以电供与水供公用设施管理来说,这些设施无效益的管理,一方面既浪费政府的钱,也令人民被迫付出更大代价。

早期很多公用设施,皆在政府认为是策略领域,而未开放予其他方面竞標与管理。不过,在绿色能源部份,若能导入一些国內外专精,相信对加速推动绿色能源,或对提高整体能源效益方面,有所帮助。

如果有了这些外在因素的刺激,至少某些能源公司的职员,就不会眼里只有高压电缆,或硬闯某个山村,欲在迫近新村范围架电缆输送电流。

公用设施作为例子,是因公用与航空、运输与製造业,皆是排碳蛮大的领域。目前国际公用公司、航空公司已跑在减碳节能前线,自动设下减碳指標和採取步骤落实。

以大马轿车夜以继日,在大马各大都会塞车所的排碳与释放热气,这种能源的浪费,汽油补贴不停的流失,乃至对大马经济形成的负面衝击,是非常惊人的。

不仅仅因为大马亦在吉隆坡展开高速捷运计划,在吉隆坡问题未解决前,同样的问题也会扩散至其他大都会。因此,这相信是长远能源效益大蓝图中,所需注意与克服的一些问题。

政府最近预算案中为油电环保车提供免税措施,鼓励人民购买减排轿车减少排碳。政府也在其经济转型路线图中,实施一些环保认证与“標籤”,包括从政府做起,所採购货品符合环保生產模式。

大马政府绿色环保道路上,无疑朝向一个正確方向。儘管政府採取这项策略可喜可贺,但在绿色环保道路上,还是有很多地方需要改进。

以政府车队、公眾一般运输车的行为模式来说,还是有很多车子停於停车场、路边不动时,车內人士还是开动引擎阅报半小时至一小时,一些时候弄得停车场空气更污染,温度更高


上述行为的產生与燃油费低,或者政府与环保团体宣导不足,官员至民眾没有觉醒有关。这方面的落差,仍等待政府、企业、民眾,非政府组织去落实减碳管理。

这是一个进程,相信大马会在法规与执法上进一步优化,包括加强环境的执法,及多植树降温,或在產业上逐步朝向绿色建筑指数,减少能源消耗与减排降温等。


企业也须为环保尽分力


在企业上,根据標准普尔对亚太企业调查,10个亚太企业中,有9个企业已对地球升温与碳的管理上益发觉醒。但相对的,他们对这些问题形成的財务风险与契机,仍是朦朧的。

可以预料到的,在不久的未来,气候改变这议题上,將直接与企业息息相关。这可能关係到消费者、投资者对这些企业的形象、他们的竞爭力的评估,或者排碳风险高的企业,因其“持续发展评级”差,导致在筹资成本会相对高。

与此同时,节能管理妥当的企业,也可能掌握更多优势,並从节能上开发更大契机!


星洲日报/焦点评析‧作者:张启华‧2010.11.04
source :
http://biz.sinchew-i.com/node/40531?tid=17

Saturday, November 6, 2010

RE POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT BTW TNB & KUB- BERJAYA ENERGY SDN BHD

SIGNING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT (REPPA) BETWEEN TNB AND KUB-BERJAYA ENERGY SDN BHD

TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD today, has signed an agreement for the purchase of electricity generated by a small Renewable Energy (RE) power project developed by KUB-Berjaya Energy Sdn. Bhd. under the Very Small Renewable Energy Power (VSREP) Program .The SREP Program was launched by the Government in May 2001 to promote the utilisation of renewable energy in power generation and to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. The signing of this REPPA demonstrates the continuous support given by TNB for the success of the Government’s SREP Program.

TNB has agreed to purchase the electricity from KUB-Berjaya Energy Sdn. Bhd. for a period of 21 years. The estimated value of this REPPA is about RM1.84 million per year.

The RE power plant developed by KUB-Berjaya Energy Sdn. Bhd., which utilizes landfill gas (methane gas) as fuel, will be located in Bukit Tagar, Selangor Darul Ehsan and will have an export capacity of 1 MW to TNB. As at to date, the total capacity under REPPA is 109.65 MW.

source: Bursa Malaysia Announcement (2 November 2010)

Friday, November 5, 2010

Proton to offer hybrid car below RM100,000

PETALING JAYA: PROTON HOLDINGS BHD  is looking to offer its first hybrid car at a competitive price of below RM100,000, Advisor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday, Nov 2.


Expected to be commercially launched next year, Proton is said to be developing hybrid as well as electric engines with British company Frazer-Nash Research, South Korea's LG and its Britain-based subsidiary Lotus.

Dr Mahathir, who is former prime minister, said the development of hybrid cars was part of Proton's initiative to move into green TECHNOLOGY [].

"We have now frozen the design and in the process of improving the performance of the car. We will make an announcement very soon," he told reporters after handing over Proton's 25th Anniversary edition cars to the first nine buyers here.

"The price of a hybrid car will be slightly higher than an ordinary car because the batteries are so expensive. In the case of a well-known car maker, the hybrid car will be three times higher than ordinary cars.

"Our cars, I think will be below RM100,000," he said.

He said Proton would be putting its three hybrid cars to participate in a race in Britain on Nov 6.

Meanwhile, Proton Managing Director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir the company would set a test fleet of about 50 hybrid vehicles for use by the government before the launch of mass production.

He had earlier said that the company was producing the Exora hybrid version in Britain for testing and research.

A vehicle with hybrid technology means it has two sources of power, petrol and electricity. Today’s hybrids combine a petrol engine with one or more electric motors.

The fully electric hybrid drivetrain consists of an engine that recharges lithium ion batteries, which, in turn, power an electric motor responsible for driving the car.

Honda Malaysia yesterday announced that customers could purchase its new Civic Hybrid at on-the-road price of RM108,980 in Peninsular and RM109,980 in East Malaysia, which is RM21,000 less than the current Honda Civic.

Last week, UMW Toyota Motor cut the Toyota Prius on-the-road price with insurance in Peninsular Malaysia to RM139,900 from RM175,000. The price in Sabah and Sarawak is about RM141,500 due to higher logistics costs.

This was in line with the government's decision to extend tax incentives for hybrid vehicles until Dec 31, 2011

source:Bernama
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/business-news/176449-proton-to-offer-hybrid-car-below-rm100000.html

Thursday, November 4, 2010

How much you will spend on Toyota Prius Maintenance?

Alot of  Malaysian, including well to do businessman are very concern about the cost of maintenance for a Toyota Prius due to its complexity in hybrid car technology such as battery, inverter,battery system and etc.

To :Non Toyota Prius Driver:

The initial maintenance cost for Toyota Prius are:

First 1,000 KM maintenance at Toyota Service center-Shah Alam = RM 74.00
 
First 5,000KM Maintenance at Toyota Service center-Balakong  =  RM 74.00


The above maintenance cost including :
  • wash and vaccum car
  • Replacement of Premium MIM TGMO 4litre oil
  • Gasket
  • window washer 30ml
  • labour cost (free)
Note: If you intend to get further discount from Toyota, pls fill up the questionaire form and you will get RM20 rebate from your total bill .

Happy Driving with Toyota Prius.

Previous Post
All about Toyota Prius

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Modenas Electric Motorcycle CTRIC Specification

For those who are intended to purchase or consider to change our petrol motorcycle to electric motorcycle, you may find the technical information such as the speed,torque and other technical info from my below picture.Looking forward our government to approve this electric motorcycle on the road soon.

Previous post about Electric Motorcycle
Modenas Electric Motorcycle-CTRIC

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Modenas Electric Motorcycle-CTRIC

During my visit to Green Energy Exhibition at KLCC recently, an interesting green motorcycle exhibition booth -Electric Motorcycle from Modenas, our Malaysia national motorcycle company had caught my attention.

This electric motorcycle is fully developed, assembled and manufactured in Malaysia. It will launch in near future after obtaining approval from the authorities. The target market will be the urban and inter urban within 30-40km range for those people who are conscious about energy saving .


The selling price for this electric bike will be below RM5,000 per unit and it will take about three and half hours to recharge the motorcycle from zero base (for minimum 80% battery capacity). It has a 1kw  DC Brushless (PWM) Motor. The life span of the 5 units of lead acid,Nano Gel type batteries are 2.5 years or 30,000KM and up to 500 discharge cycles. The rating for each battery is about 12V , 20AH @ 2hours.

Based on our current electricity tariff, it will cost about RM0.39 for a  full charge.It capable to travel up to 65KM with the maximum speed of 110kM.

(source: Business Time New_2 July 2010)

The below is the our national made Electric Motorcycle-CTRIC-Intelligent Energy flyer




My previous post: