Adv - PETRONAS Solar Photovoltiac

This posting might be a bit out of the way but I am wondering how it can benefit sports since PETRONAS and sports had been walking together on the fast lane. 

Ever since man knew one way of starting fire using the sunshine, efforts of tapping energy from from it never stop. Man learn how to start fire by focusing the sun rays on an object using transparent convex glasses and today the use of modern technological such solar panels. Tapping the sun energy has become the new approach of our society to consume a cheaper and healthier energy to power our homes and electrical appliances. 

Travelers nowadays can bring along their handy power supply anywhere even though in the middle of a desert or Tropical rainforest and can power up their electronic gadgets as long as they can have free access to sunshine.  That is talking about powering a small or personal belongings.

What about powering a large building or structures, especially in Malaysia? PETRONAS has come up with the answer. 

When we hear the word PETRONAS what comes into our own petroleum producing company that explore the sea bottom for oil reserves, pump it, process it and sells to us, the consumers. That is what we think of, a company tapping fossil oil as one of the main source of energy to power up the country and runs domestic automotive machines to the Formula 1 cars and even the plane that flies above our heads.

PETRONAS does not stop there because it had ventured into another energy producing field, that is solar energy. Maybe PETRONAS is the first petroleum company in the world to diversify and venture into another energy source, a green and renewable energy. We have been reading that fossil energy will be depleted as time goes because it takes millions of year to change fossils into crude oil. However solar energy will be there as long as the world and universe is alive. Paving the way to using solar energy in Malaysia, PETRONAS has successfully installed its first Solar Photovoltiac panels as a pilot project not only on top of Malaysia's iconic shopping mall, Suria KLCC.

I had an opportunity the be present at an evening of conservation education as one of the attendee during the Official Launching of PETRONAS 1st Solar Photovoltiac Installation at Sky Lobby of Tower 3 KLCC.  

The launch was officiated by The Hon. Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Malaysia, YB Dato' Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui. Also present  is Mr Kayuzuki Mori,  Senior Vice President of Natural Gas Business Division A, Mitsubishi Corporation, the collaboration partner with PETRONAS for the green technology initiatives. 

The Solar Photovoltiac System installed on the rooftop of Suria KLCC shopping mall is the single largest rooftop solar panel installed in Malaysia. It was such a coincidence that Suria KLCC Shopping Mall had been chosen as the pilot project to use Solar Photovoltiac because Suria in Bahasa Melayu means Sun. 

TOP Photocredit : PETRONAS

FACTS ABOUT THE PROJECT

(TOP) Photocredit : PETRONAS

• 7,000 solar panels mounted on 2,000 sets of mounting structures and weighs 600 tons covering 9000 square metres of the rooftop.
• The project was completed in  9 months.
• The system contributes to the reduction of carbon emission of approximately 360,000 kg of carbon dioxide a year. 
• Able to generate power capacity of up to 600 megawatt-hours of solar energy annually and electricity produced is equivalent to powering 250 households or light up 7,700 fluorescent light bulbs for 12 hours daily. 

• At present the Solar Photovoltiac supplies 30 per cent of Suria KLCC's power requirement.

• Solar panels has been installed in patterns that follow the Islamic architectural and traditional songket motifs design elements that are common to the PETRONAS twin towers. It is highly visible from the PETRONAS twin towers and surrounding highrise buildings.

The barren rooftop of Suria KLCC Shopping has been transformed into a beautiful design using the PETRONAS Solar Photoviltiac panels. - Photocredit PETRONAS

PETRONAS' Solar Photovoltiac (PV) System utilises 6 different technologies:

1. Mono-crystalline silicon

2. Poly-crystalline silicon

3. Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film

4. Tandem thin film

5. Copper indium selenium (CIS) thin film

6. Hybrid heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT)

 (TOP) Photocredit : PETRONAS

Dato' Sri Peter Chin also encourages other business entities in the country to embark on such a projects so that the barren rooftop can be turned into something economical and help conserve fossil energy while at the same time reducing the green house gas emission. It will also be a form of decoration for the dull rooftops as what PETRONAS had shown with its creative design of the batik . 

Meanwhile PETRONAS Chief Operating Officer, YBhg. Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin in his speech mentioned that this Photovoltiac Project paves the way for PETRONAS to continue to explore opportunities in green and renewable energy towards the reduction of greenhouse gasses as part of its effort towards sustainable development. 

PETRONAS is also developing a utility scale Solar Independent Power Plant of 10.02 Megawatt peak at Gebeng, Kuantan.   

Photos : Unless otherwise mentioned are from this bloggers camera.