The World Economic Forum (WEF) has determined that in many parts of the world, solar energy is now the same price or even cheaper than fossil fuels for the first time. That was in 2016. BUT although Malaysia is the world’s fourth largest PV modules producer, solar technology is ironically not adopted widely here.
One reason is the cost of installing PV systems in Malaysia is expensive, even though the cost is falling at a rate of more than 10% per year. In 2005, for instance, the cost of PV system per kW peak was RM31,410, falling to RM24,970 in 2007, and to RM20,439 in 2009. Today, the cost has reduced to about RM15,000 per kW peak – a rate still unaffordable or impractical to most Malaysians. So says Christopher Teh (http://www.christopherteh.com/blog/2012/05/solar-malaysia/) who adds: The low efficiency of PV panels sold in Malaysia is bad news because a great deal (more than 90%) of solar energy is unused for electricity generation. You can read his post for more details. It’s well written.
Well, I tried to install some PV panels, and it still costs Rm5000 jsut for some hot water in the house. Shoot! That feed in tariff that TnB used to offer (sudah tutup) would have demanded RM80,000 from me! Where got??
Malaysia is so not keen on climate change and renewable energy because… business must go on, how else to make money?!
But how did Chia make it happen? I visited Kunming recently and every house and residential building seemed to have solar panels. Every one! They also use electric vehicles more than bicycles. Tariffs on exports of solar panels may have depressed the home prices, so maybe they looked at their own people to get rid of stocks, cheaply. If only that would happen here. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0458-3.)
** Cover pic is Guest House, in Yunnan, China. Commons wiki