Plus Solar sees chance to change mindset on renewable energy
KUALA LUMPUR: The pandemic has indeed placed limitations on how renewable energy (RE) players conduct business and it is now considered as the biggest challenge faced by the sector.
However for Ko Chuan Zen, co-founder and chief executive officer of solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions provider Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd, there are opportunities and RE players have been trying to change the mindset of Malaysians as well as the business community in seeing the potential in RE.
“We have succeeded on many platforms with clients such as Ajiya Bhd and Mah Sing Plastics Industries Sdn Bhd, the established names who have adopted RE and have enjoyed savings of up to 25 per cent,” he told Bernama.
He said while the pandemic has indeed proven challenging, with the earliest potential recovery only in the second half of 2021, Plus Solar is confident of the prospects in 2021 as well as to contribute towards the newly revised RE target of 31 per cent in 2025 and 40 per cent in 2035.
“The net energy metering (NEM) 3.0 programme provides an opportunity for more users to instal the solar PV systems on the roof of their respective buildings or homes for electricity bill reduction.
“Through the programme, end-users in the industrial and commercial sectors have seen significant savings, and this will continue to drive up the trend for clean energy,” he said, adding that energy consumption has been identified as one of the top operational expenditures for business owners along with raw material, labour and rent, when they invest.
NEM 3.0 which covers both NEM Rakyat (domestic households), NEM GoMEn (government buildings) and NOVA (for commercial and industrial buildings), to be in effective from 2021-2023, with the total allocation of up to 500MW (megawatts).
Ko said that with the attractive Green Investment Tax Allowance (GITA) by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and NEM 3.0 in place till 2023, people will begin to realise that solar energy is no longer a luxury but an affordable essential.
“Digitalisation of energy will also be our concentration with Plus Solar’s AIoT (artificial intelligence Internet of things) energy performance management system called SOURCE which empowers business owners to turn their building energy data into smart energy savings.
“We rolled out this system last year as we saw how much it would resolve the concerns of business owners where they can gain up to 25 per cent energy savings,” he added.