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Feasibility Study of Solar Power System in Residential Area

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 International Journal of Innovation in Computational Science and Engineering ISSN: 2708-3128
Volume-1 Issue-1, pp:10-17 May-2020

Feasibility Study of Solar Power System in Residential Area

Saad Bin Abul Muhammad E. H. Mujahid Tabassum Majid E. Molla Azad Ashraf Jubaer Ahmed
Kashem Chowdhury Higher College of Academic Bridge College of North Swinburne
Qatar Armed Forces Qatar University Technology Program Atlantic University of
– Academic Bridge Doha, Qatar Muscat, Oman Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar Technology
Program mchowdhury@qu.ed Mujahid.tabassum@ Doha, Qatar azad.ashraf@cna- Sarawak, Malaysia
Qatar Foundation, u.qa hct.edu.om mmolla@qf.org.qa qatar.edu.qa Doha, Qatar
Doha, Qatar jahmed@swin.edu.
Institution1 address my
skashem@qf.org.qa

Abstract was located entirely in the equatorial region. Malaysia is

exposed to a constant high temperature ranging from 27oC to
33oC and average solar radiation of 4.5 kWh/m2 daily [2].
The present paper studied the feasibility of solar power system However, the feasibility of using solar energy in Malaysia is
in the residential area in Kuching. Generally, the solar power still undergoing research and development. Therefore, this
system described in this paper is defined as a small-scale research was proposed to study the feasibility of installing the
photovoltaic (PV) based system that can be installed within a small-scale photovoltaic solar system in the residential area in
housing compound or on the rooftop to generate sufficient power to Kuching, Sarawak.
support a household daily electricity usage. The required data was
collected at the residential area at Sekama, Kuching by using two Currently, the electricity that supplied to most of the
methods, which are an analytical and experimental method. Later, households in Kuching is generated from hydropower and coal
the acquired data obtained from the two methods used were power plant. In order to minimize the electricity generation
converted in term of solar irradiation. Besides, analyses were that depends on non-renewable energy, cut down the electric
carried out for the solar power system in terms of the potential, bill expenses of households and create a sustainable
capacity and economic feasibility of the solar PV system. Overall, environment, the solar power system is considered to be
the solar PV system is found to be feasible to be installed in the studied in this research.
residential area.
In addition, this research has highlighted the feasibility of
Keywords— Solar energy; photovoltaic; residential area; installing the standalone solar PV system in the residential
Kuching; solar panel; solar irradiation area of Sekama in Kuching. In order to approximate the
possible solar energy production, solar radiation data will be
1 Introduction
collected. Furthermore, the potential of the implementation of
In today’s world, the global energy consumption increased
solar energy in Kuching can be determined by conducting
significantly due to the rapid growth of population,
analysis using the estimated energy production. The
industrialization and development in developing countries.
experimental tools that will be used in measuring the solar
Being one of the developing countries, Malaysia utilized fossil
radiation in Kuching including a light meter and a solar panel
fuels to generate 90% of electricity aside from other resources
and multimeter. Apart from that, consultation will be
[1] . However, the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity are
conducted with local companies to obtain the information
considered as non-renewable and non-sustainable as it is
regarding the installation of the solar panel system in Kuching.
depleting when they are burnt to generate electricity. Besides,
Lastly, the analysis will be conducted based on all the results
the burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide which
and findings to come out with the recommendation.
could damage our environment and cause global warming as
well as the greenhouse effect. Therefore, the use of renewable 2 Literature Review
energy to non-renewable energy is widely concerned about
many developing and developed countries. 2.1 Study of Location
The location is very important for installing solar power
Renewable energy can be obtained from the natural system as it is related to the availability of the sunshine, light
resources which are sustainable and environmentally friendly. intensity and the tilt angle of solar module [3]. The selected
Currently, several types of renewable energy were utilized by research location, Kuching is located in Sarawak, Malaysia.
many countries such as solar, wind, tidal, hydro and biomass. Malaysia is a tropical country located close to the equator
Among these renewable energy sources, solar energy gained which exposed to abundant sunshine throughout the year. The
more attention by researchers in the developing countries. average sunshine hours in Malaysia is about 4 to 8 hours daily
From future prospects, the solar energy is said to be a and the monthly solar radiation is approximately 400 – 600
promising renewable energy alternative as it converts sunlight MJ/m2 [4]. According to the official website of State Planning
directly to electrical energy. Unit, Sarawak experiences monsoonal changes twice in a year
Malaysia is claimed to have a high suitability for using where the Northeast and Southwest Monsoon brings heavy
solar energy as a source for electricity generation as Malaysia rainfall [5]. Besides this monsoonal changes, the climate

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 International Journal of Innovation in Computational Science and Engineering ISSN: 2708-3128
Volume-1 Issue-1, pp:1-9 May-2020

condition in Sarawak is constant throughout the year. Also, the about it [11]. Through this survey conducted, it is clearly that
website reported that Kuching is having an average of 5 to 6 public perspective is focused on the installation cost and the
hours of sunshine every day. lack of effectiveness in government awareness program. Thus,
the reduction of the installation cost and government actions
According to Chua et, al. in 2009, Germany have the for increasing the awareness toward renewable energy will
largest solar power capacity being installed which is around boost the development of solar energy in Malaysia.
half of the world market [6]. Although the average solar
irradiance is quite low in Germany, the country is still the
major player in solar energy production. This implied that 2.3 Study of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV)
Malaysia as a country at the equator has very high potential system
and opportunity to develop solar power system. Nowadays, the conventional fuel price is showing an
increasing trend due to its decreasing availability [3]. This
2.2 Solar Energy Trend in Malaysia increasing trend of the price is predicted to be a continuous
phenomenon in the future. For this reason, an early solar
Currently, the solar PV system is applied in Malaysia
energy project, named Malaysia Building Integrated
mainly on providing electricity to the rural area, street and
Photovoltaic (MBIPV) had been undertaken but the
gardening lighting, and telecommunication [7]. Also, there are
government of Malaysia [12]. This project was introduced to
several industries that used solar water heater for heating
study the potential of solar energy and to encourage the
purposes such as the hotels service provider, food and
development of the solar energy in Malaysia as a step to
beverage industry and upper-class urban homes. The first trial
reduce dependency on the fossil fuel energy.
for grid-connected PV system in Malaysia was conducted by
the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in July 1998. The first Under the MBIPV project, a study being conducted and the
system was installed on top of a university. The results from results showed that Malaysia is one of the countries in the
the experiment showed that solar PV system in Malaysia is whole world who has very high potential to produce electricity
able to produce electricity that is 1.3 times more as compared through solar PV system [12]. Eight cities within Malaysia
to the similar installations in Germany. Additionally, Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu, Penang, Kota Bahru, Kuching, Johor Bahru,
has an additional advantage for solar PV system as the weather Kuantan, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur) were selected in this
is stable and the uniformly high ambient temperature study and used the same configurations for investigation. The
throughout the year. results showed that Kuching ranged the fourth for the annual
energy production for both roof-top system and facade system.
In 2001, Malaysian government started to implement the
Through the studies conducted under the MBIPV project, it is
Fifth Fuel Policy to encourage the generation of electricity
very clear that the solar energy has huge potential for
through renewable energy with the target of 5% within 5 years
supplying electricity in Malaysia.
[8]. However, this target failed with the achievement of only
0.3% due to several reasons. The reasons included: market Additionally, according to Ali, et al. [7], the BIPV system
failures (limited buyers); economic, financial and has a very high potential where it offers advantages. The
technological constraints; lack of legal framework, advantages are that it required no extra land for locating the
institutional measures, and high installation cost. Later in solar PV system and it reduces the transmission losses as the
2005, the solar PV industry started to rise after the MBIPV electricity is used at where it is generated. Recently, Malaysia
Project was launched. At the end of this project on the 31st is one of the countries with the fastest growing building
December 2010, there are 109 projects being conducted with industries around the world [3]. Thus, there will be an
64 installed on residential houses [8]. Within this five years increasing demand for the electricity supply and the large
period, the cost of installation for PV system decreased by available building space. These changes are indicating a huge
about 40% and there is an increment of about 13.2% of house potential for the implementation of BIPV technology in
owner who are willing to install the PV system. Malaysia.
In 2011, Malaysia started a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme Moreover, the properly sized BIPV system is able to cover
which focuses on PV system. The FiT concept had been used the cost purchasing the electricity and it is possible to export
in many countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and Thailand. the surplus back to the grid [3]. The authors also reported that
The FiT was proven to be able to speed up the development of a solar system with a capacity of 1kWp for every 10m2 of
renewable energy sector [9]. The generated electricity through rooftop area in either residential or commercial sectors, it is
solar PV system can be exported back to the national grid with predicted that the system can generate the electricity at around
the rate of RM0.85 to RM1.23 per kWh. Also, some bonuses 20% of the national energy demand.
are introduced under the scheme where the seller will be paid
for RM1.78 per kWh [8]. 2.4 Economic Feasibility of BIPV
In 2012, a survey was conducted by Solangi et al. among According to the case study conducted in six different
the public in Malaysia to explore on their view and acceptance cases, the installation cost of a 2.5 kW solar PV system in
towards the solar energy [10]. The results showed that more Malaysia is around RM 47,800.00 [8]. This estimation is
than half of the participants is willing to purchase and install obtained through the results from the MBIPV project. Besides
solar power system if the installation cost is 50% subsidies by installation cost, the maintenance cost is estimated to be about
the government. Also, around 80% of the participants will go RM478.00 annually. The average total revenue for all the six
for solar energy if the price is as close as the electricity cases is between RM80,367.00 and RM167,517.00 for the
generated from fossil fuel. The survey followed by the public operation of the solar panel within 21 years. The results
awareness toward the incentives provided for renewable showed that the annual return on investment ranged around
energy and more than half of the participants have no idea

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3% to 12% with the payback period of around 6 years to 13 silicon solar cell has the highest efficiency (22%), followed by
years [8]. the polycrystalline silicon solar cell (9%) and lastly is the
amorphous silicon solar cell (8%). On the other hand, the
Moreover, a HOMER simulation is conducted by Heng et maximum power output can be generated by monocrystalline,
al. to determine the solar energy production for on grid system amorphous and polycrystalline at 130000 lx of radiation are
[13]. Before the simulation, the survey was conducted to 17.9 W/m2, 14.12 W/m2 and 6.29 W/m2 respectively [17].
obtain the monthly electricity consumption from 114 different
participants. The simulation results showed that the monthly
electricity consumption bills can be paid off by the electricity 2.6 Potential of Solar PV in Malaysia
generated from the on-grid solar PV system and there will be Malaysia is rich in renewable energy sources such as solar,
an extra financial benefit. The profit for 1kW and 2 kW hydro, the wind, biomass and tidal [18]. Other than
system for a 21-year full FiT contract are RM947.52 and hydropower, all the other renewable energy sources were built
RM1543.26 respectively [13]. As for 3kW and 4kW system, in small scale to generate electricity and supply to the rural
the revenue throughout the 21-year full FiT contract are much area and for the small applications usage. Solar is one of the
higher which is RM32408.46 and RM95382 respectively. potential renewable energy sources that has not been fully
developed in Malaysia. According to Borhanazad, et al. [2],
2.5 Types of Solar PV Panel Malaysia is located entirely in the equatorial region, making it
a hot and humid country with the average ambient temperature
Three common types of solar PV panel available in today’s ranged from 27 °C to 33 °C and average solar radiation of
market in Malaysia are monocrystalline, polycrystalline panel 4500 Wh/m2 daily. With this natural conditions, several
and amorphous thin film [14]. Although three of them are researchers were interested in developing the solar energy in
different in term of their appearance, efficiency, prices, and some rural areas in Malaysia.
manufacturing process, but their working process is the same,
which directly convert the solar radiation into electricity. Borhanazad, et al. [2], studied the feasibility of
Besides, all of these three types of panels are made of silicon. implementing three sources of renewable energy which are
The best way to identify the type of panels is by observing the solar, wind and hydropower in some poorest states (Sabah,
appearance. Generally, monocrystalline panels are black in Sarawak, Perlis, and Kedah) in Malaysia. The research found
color and octagonal in shape whereas the polycrystalline that the solar energy can be received in Sabah is between 4.25
panels have inconsistent color and rectangular in shape [15]. kWh/m2 and 5.29 kWh/m2 per day, followed by Kedah, Perlis,
and Sarawak, the average received solar energy is about 5.48
The monocrystalline cells have been widely used in kWh/m2, 5.26 kWh/m2 and 5.12 kWh/m2 respectively.
today’s market due to they occupy 38% of all solar cell Besides, the research also found that the maximum solar
production in 2008 [16]. Monocrystalline panels are made by radiation received in Sabah and Sarawak is about 6.027
pure silicon which results in expensive price as compared to kWh/m2 and 5.303 kWh/m2 per day and therefore, there is a
the other types of panels. However, the efficiency of the high potential of implementing the solar PV system in both
monocrystalline panels are considered as high due to the cells states in Malaysia [2].
are aligned in one direction which enable the panels to catch
most of the solar energy. Moreover, the monocrystalline In addition, Kadirgama, et al. [19] studied and estimated
panels generally produced by the smallest solar cells which are the solar radiation in East Coast Malaysia. In this research, the
suitable to be installed on the rooftop [15]. location of solar radiation forecasting is located in Pekan,
Pahang. Also, a period of one year is utilized to measure the
Polycrystalline panels are the most widely produced solar
solar radiation and solar energy. According to Kadirgama, et
cells in current solar cell production. Among these types of al. [19], the average solar radiation received in Pekan is about
solar cells, the production of polycrystalline cells occupies 982 W/m2 per day and the solar energy produced is about 400
48% of world solar cell production in 2008 [16]. Ly per day (= 193.8 W/m2). Furthermore, this research also
Polycrystalline panels have the cheapest price as compared to shows that a maximum of 1200 W/m2 solar radiation can be
the other types of the panel due to they are made by received in Pekan, Pahang [19].
polycrystalline cells. However, the efficiency of the
polycrystalline panels are low due to the polycrystalline cells Azhari, et al. [20], also studied the solar radiation in
are aligned randomly in squares which enable the panels to Malaysia by using satellite images. The research showed that
catch the most of the solar energy as compared to there is no significant different of solar radiation received in
monocrystalline panels. Furthermore, the polycrystalline both East and Peninsular Malaysia. A maximum solar
panels are generally in rectangular blocks which are suitable to radiation around 5.56 kW/m2 is received mostly in the
be used in large areas [15]. Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia and Southern region
of East Malaysia [20]. In this research, it shows that the solar
Amorphous silicon cells are made by a thin homogenous energy has the highest potential to be used in the Northern
layer which consists of silicon atoms. As compare to the region of Peninsular Malaysia due to this area receive the most
crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon is easier in absorbing solar radiation every month as compared to East Malaysia.
light. However, the efficiency is low as compared to the However, it is found that some areas in East Malaysia also
crystalline solar cells [14]. have the potential to apply solar energy system due to they are
Dobrzański, et al. [17] compared the electric characteristic exposed to high solar radiation between May until November,
of silicon solar cells. In this research, three different solar cells whereas the lowest solar radiation is received from December
including monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous to January [20-31].
have been tested on their efficiency, fill factor and maximum Furthermore, Mekhilef, et al. [4] claimed that Malaysia has
power output. The research found that the monocrystalline strong potential to implement large scale of solar power due to

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 International Journal of Innovation in Computational Science and Engineering ISSN: 2708-3128
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Malaysia is located near to the equator. Moreover, this the light intensity is converted to the solar irradiance by
research also shows that Kuching has a yearly average solar multiplying with a constant. Then, the solar irradiance is used
radiation of 1470 kWh/m2. for calculation of the power output by using the area of the
solar cell.
Jakhrani, et al. [21] also investigated the accessibility and
potential of solar energy at five typical locations in Sarawak.
In his works, it is claimed that Kuching can receive 15.44
MJ/m2 (= 4.29 kWh/m2) of daily global solar irradiation which
is measured at Kuching Weather Station.
Besides, Engel-Cox, et al. [22] evaluated the solar and
meteorological data in eight cities located in Malaysia. From
his work, it stated that Kuching has a mean daily global solar
radiation of 4.19 kWh/m2 per day.

2.7 Developing and Existing Solar Power System in (a) (b)

Sarawak Fig. 1. (a) Light Intensity Collection by Light Meter (b) Measurement of
Voltage and Current Output
A local energy development company, Sarawak Energy
Berhad, has implemented the project of the solar home system 3.1.2 Method 2: Experimental Data
(SHS) and expanded the solar freezer system (SFS) in a For this method, the multimeter is used to measure the
remote area at Batang Ai in Sarawak. In December 2014, voltage and current output from a solar cell exposed the sun
Sarawak Energy has implemented the first phase of the SHS as shown in Fig. 1(b). By using the data collected, the power
project at Rh Kino and Rh Manggat in Menyang. Besides, the output of the solar cell is determined. Also, the power output
second phase of the SHS project has been completed in is converted back to the solar irradiance.
February 2016, where the project is expanded to Rh Griffin,
Rh Jangong, and Rh Ninting in Nanga Jengin and Ulu Delok. Secondly, the analysis of the structural area of the rooftop
[32-41] These two phases have cost around RM 2 million is required for determination of the possible area for
were a total of 63 households have been installed with the placements for solar panels and also the consideration of the
SHS which benefiting more than 300 residents. Furthermore, possible obstacle and shadow problems that might affect the
with the succeed of the project and positive acceptation by the output of the solar PV system.
villagers, the third phase of the SHS project will be started in
April 2016 where the project will cover Engkari area for Rh. Lastly, the estimation of the average household electricity
Brown, Ng. Stapang to benefit 16 households and 80 residents usage in a residential area is conducted to decide the size of
[23][42-45]. solar PV system that is suitable for supplying the electricity
and also the bill saving.
3 Methodology
In this study, the methodology is divided into two different 3.2 Economic Feasibility
section for obtaining all the information required for After the site analysis, another main concern for the
conducting the feasibility study of the solar PV system in the feasibility study of solar PV system is the economic
residential area. feasibility. Economic feasibility depends on the capability of
local people to invest for new installation and return of
3.1 Site Analysis investment. In this section, the mathematical analysis was
conducted for estimating the installation cost and the
The first thing to be considered in the feasibility study of
economic values.
an installation of solar PV system is the site analysis. The site
analysis includes the collection of meteorological data and the For carrying out the estimation, the consultations were
structural layout of the roof space as well as the average conducted with two companies locally in order to obtain all
household energy usage at the residential area. the basic information regarding the installation of solar PV
system. The consulted companies are The Solar Energy Co.
Firstly, the meteorological data is related to the weather
and the Ecogreen Solar Engineering Sdn. Bhd. The
and climate of the location. This involves the study of the
information obtained from the company consists of the area
availability of the sunlight and any information that can be
and price for a 1kWp solar PV system as well as some
used for the calculation of the energy that can potentially be
outcome information regarding the solar projects that have
produced. In this section, two methods are being applied for
been carried out by them. The details of the calculation of
obtaining the data regarding the potential of solar power
economic feasibility have been discussed in the next sections.
system in residential Kuching. Both methods are calculated
based on the 1W rating polycrystalline solar cell with a 4 Results and observations
dimension of 120mm x 74mm. The solar irradiance obtained
can be used to calculate the peak sun hours (PSH). PSH refer 4.1 Meteorological Data
to the amount of time that the solar system received the peak Due to the limitation of time frame for this research
level of solar irradiance at 1kW/m2. project, the meteorological data was collected within a four
weeks period starting from the 5th April to 2th May 2016
3.1.1 Method 1: Analytical Data whereby the data was collected in the residential area in
For this method, the light meter is used to measure the Sekama, Kuching.
light intensity under the sun as shown in Fig. 1(a). After that,

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4.1.1 Analytical Results (Method 1)

The light intensity was collected using the light meter at
the selected location. The data collected was then converted to
solar irradiance using an approximate value of 0.0079 W/m2
per Lux. The conversion value is approximated because there
is no direct conversion between light intensity and solar
irradiance as light varies with its own wavelength and color.
The calculated average daily solar irradiance in Kuching was
plotted in Fig. 2. Based on the plotted graph, it can be clearly
seen that the daily solar irradiance fluctuates around the 600
W/m2 to 750 W/m2 except for some data that was collected
during the cloudy and rainy day. The orange line in the graph
indicates the average solar irradiance in Kuching which is
636.19 W/m2.
Fig. 3. Average Daily Output Voltage and Current for the Solar Cell in
Kuching (5th April – 2nd May 2016)

Fig. 2. Average Daily Solar Irradiance In Kuching (5th April – 2nd May 2016)

Besides, the average solar irradiance is also converted to

the power output by multiplying with the area of the 1W rating
solar cell so that the value can be compared against the
experimental results. The area of the 1W rating solar cell and
the output power are computed as shown in the equation (1)
and (2).

Area = 0.12 m × 0.074 m = 0.00888 m2 (1)

Output Power = 636.19 W/m2 × 0.00888 m2 = 5.65 W (2)

4.1.2 Experimental Results (Method 2)

Similarly, as the method 1, the output voltage and current Fig. 4. Average Output Power for the Solar Cell in Kuching (5th April – 2nd
of the solar cell are measured by using the multimeter at the May 2016)
same location. The measurement for daily output voltage and
the current was plotted in the Fig. 3. Moreover, the output After the data being collected for both output voltage and
power of the solar cell was calculated according to the current from the solar cell, the average power output of the
measurement of the output voltage and current and the results solar cell is calculated as 0.85 W. Then, the power output is
were plotted in the Fig. 4. converted back to solar irradiance by using the ratio method to
map the area of the solar cell to 1 m2. The calculation is shown
in the equation (3).

Solar Irradiance = 0.85 W ÷ 0.00888 m2 = 95.72 W/m2 (3)

Through the results obtained from both analytical and

experimental method, there is a huge different in the solar
irradiance and power output. The possible reason for this
observation is that the solar cell used in the experiment is
limited to the only 1W rating. Another possible reason is that
the solar cell does not utilize the overall surface area as there
are conductors and separators located on top of the solar cell

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and this reduces the amount of solar irradiance received by the TABLE II. BASIC INFORMATION REGARDING SOLAR PV SYSTEM
solar cell. Thus, the solar irradiance calculated from the For 1kWp Solar PV System
experimental result is not suitable for further calculation of the Solar Panel = 6m2
PSH. Rooftop Area Required Walkway = 3m2
Total = 9m2
The average solar irradiance obtained from the analytical Pricing
result is used to calculate the PSH. The calculation is made Grid Connected System RM 10 per 1Wp
based on a consideration of six hours daily sunlight exposed as Off Grid System
Depend upon the type of battery and
shown in the equation (4). the load of the system
Peak Sun Hours In Kuching 4.0 PSH (NASA)
PSH = 636.19 W/m2 × 6 hours = 3.820 kWh/m2 = 3.82 (4)
Based on the information obtained, it can be seen that the
4.2 Rooftop Structural Area Data rooftop area required and the current pricing for the 1kWp
grid-connected solar system are almost the same for both
The most common type of home in Malaysia is a terraced companies. According to Mr. Alex Ling, the price for off-grid
house. Through some study, it was found that the available system varies with the type of batteries and the load of the
rooftop area for a terraced house ranges from 50m2 to 150m2. system [25]. Also, the PSH value used by the company is 4.0
This surface area is considered large enough for installation of and this value was obtained from NASA.
the small scale solar PV system in the residential area.
However, there are also some important factors to be During the consultation, Mr. Ling shared the 10kWp
considered in order to determine the suitability for the Hybrid Solar System that was installed as the rooftop for their
installation. The factors are including the design consideration carpark. The system cost around RM 200k. The hybrid system
of the rooftop, possible shading or obstacles issues and also is a combination of the features from both on-grid and off-grid
the ability to carry the additional weight of the solar system. system where it has a battery storage. This means that the
system can provide electricity even if there is a power
4.3 Household Electricity Usage Data blackout.
By asking some questions from the households in the 4.4.2 Calculation by using Experimental Results
residential area, it was found that the average household The experimental result is used to calculate the amount of
electricity usage ranges from RM 60 to RM 150. electricity that can be generated. In order to compare against
the data obtained from Mr. Lawrence Tan, the calculation was
4.4 Solar PV System Data made for a 4kWp grid connected solar system. According to
Mr. Tan, the electricity generated can be calculated by
4.4.1 Information Obtained through Consultation
multiplying the solar system capacity with the PSH. Thus, the
The information collected through the consultation with
calculation was made by using the experimental result of
the Solar Energy Co. was tabulated in the TABLE I. below.
3.82PSH as shown in the equation (5).
TABLE I. INFORMATION REGARDING 1KWP SOLAR PV SYSTEM Energy Generated = 4kWp × 3.82PSH = 15.28 kWh/day (5)
For 1kWp Solar PV System
Rooftop Area Required 8 ~ 9m2 Energy Generated = 458.4 kWh/month
Pricing
Grid Connected System RM 8000 ~ RM 10000 From the website of Sarawak Energy Berhad, the
Off Grid System RM 28000 ~ RM 40000 electricity rate per unit for residential area is 29.5 cent for 1 to
Peak Sun Hours In Kuching 3.7 PSH
500 units per month. Thus, the monthly bill saving can be
calculated as shown in the equation (6).
From the TABLE I. above, it was observable that the price
for off-grid solar PV system is much higher as compared to Bill Saving = 458.4 kWh × 29.5 cent = RM 135.23 (6)
the grid connected system. According to Mr. Lawrence Tan,
the huge difference in price for both systems is due to the The calculated amount is slightly lesser than the
requirement of battery and charge controller in the off-grid information given by Mr. Tan. The reason is that this value is
solar PV system [24]. Also, the PSH used by the company in calculated by considering only the peak sun hours and there is
designing the solar PV system in Kuching is 3.7 hours. still a little amount of energy generated during the off-peak
hours.
Besides, Mr. Tan also shared some information regarding
the 4kWp grid connected solar PV system that was installed in 5 Discussions
his own house four years ago. At that time, the installation
5.1 Analysis of the Potential of Solar System
cost is about four times more expensive than the current
pricing. The electricity generated from the solar PV system is From the analytical data collected, it can be seen that the
sold back to the grid at the same rate as what have been solar irradiance is quite stable throughout the four weeks’
consuming for daily activities. At the end of the consultation, period unless there is the cloudy or rainy day. By analyzing all
Mr. Tan told us that the bill saving for the 4kWp solar system the results obtained in this research, the available solar
installed was around RM150.00 a month. irradiance and peak sun hours in Kuching are enough for
generating the electricity that can cover the daily energy
The second consultation was conducted with the Ecogreen usage.
Solar Engineering Sdn. Bhd. and the information regarding the
solar energy system was tabulated in TABLE II. .

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5.2 Analysis of Rooftop Area connected solar PV system is found to be feasible for
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