15 April 2016

By KHEOH YONG SHEN

Building Economic: Energy Cost (Photovoltaic panels in Malaysia)

Building economics include initial cost, building contruction cost, project cost, development cost, and life cycle cost. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is the sum of costs over the full life span or a specific period of a good, service, structure, or system. LCC includes purchase price, installation cost, operating costs, maintenance and upgrade costs, and remaining value at the end of ownership or its useful life.

One of the economic aspects of principles of sustainable construction are consider life-cycle costs and develop appropriate economic instruments to promote sustainable consumption.  Below is the discussion on feasibility of installation of photovoltaic panels in Malaysia as a measure to reduce life cycle cost. The annual average value of solar irradiation in Malaysia is around 1500 kWh/m^2, while Germany has a annual radiation of only1055kWh/m^2, where Germany as the world's top photovoltaic installer uses the most solar energy in the world as it covers half of total power demand. As a result of using solar panel in Germany, 80% of solar panel has dropped.

The table below showed the example of potential energy generated from solar panels and return on investment with FiT system (Hong et. al., 2015).

The table showed areas with highest irradiation (Bayan Lepas) and lowest irradiation (Kuching). The payback period for solar panels in Malaysia is between 8 to 10 years. Calculation may vary according to the efficiency of solar panels that may reduce payback period to 6 to 7 years. An average life of solar panel is 20 years before it has to be changed or maintained.

As conclusion, the solar panels price may drop if the use increases and becoming common. Hence, solar panel is a worthy investment that will reduce energy cost and life cycle cost of the building.

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Reference:

1. Rahim F.A., Muzzafar S.A., Yusoff N.S.M., Zainon N., & Wang C. (2014). Sustainable Construction Through Life Cycle Costing. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya.

2. Hong S.W., Ken W.C.T. and Kelvin Y.C.Y. (2015). Solar Energy. Kuala Lumpur: Taylor's University.