Cheaper Solar Power Output
- Details
- Created: Monday, 06 February 2012 00:48
- Written by Andrew Mathew of The Malay Mail
Nanopac to exploit vast swathes of glass around urban buildings
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian nanotechnology developer, Nanopac (M) Sdn Bhd, is looking to commercialise its third-generation solar cells and transfer operations from South Korea to the Klang Valley.
Nanopac chief executive officer Datuk Dr Cheng Kok Leong said, "it is cheaper to launch and produce our cells in Malaysia, and we have more sun that South Korea. We also want to locate this project in Malaysia because we have government support."
The company is recognised by Agensi Innovasi Malaysia (AIM) as having the potential to contribute to National Wealth Creation and the Government Transformation Programme.
"AIM is also assisting us in getting seed funding to commercialise our new creation and provide all other relevant regulatory assistance," said Cheng.
Nanopac hopes to exploit the vast swathes of glass around urban buildings which embeds solar cells in windows to reduce electricity cost by 100%. "We can turn whole cities into big generators, we just need buildings." He added that the technology would be more cost-effective than solar farms, as there'd be no land acquisition or rental costs.
"We ran a study on 20 solar powered bus stops compared to 20 stand-alone electrical units to test electricity usage. Results revealed that to product the same amount of energy, the fully electric powered system uses 47,000 KWh of electricity, which costs around RM7,700. The nano solar powered systems do not use electricity at all."
The technology also reduces 21,000kg of carbon emission per year based on the same case study as above.
The cells, which can either be added on to existing glass or made to retrofit in the place of a window, is estimated to be less that half of the costs of the existing silicon-based solar electricity systems when it goes commercial.
Current systems in the market range from RM400,000 to RM600,000 per 100 sqm.
In comparision to convensional solar panels, Nanopac's solar cells have no sensitive angle of sun light absorption.
The panel is also able to generate electricity on a cloudy day and with artificial light such as fluorescent lighting, providing longer hours of electricity productions.
The company hopes to install its cells in two Malaysian buildings soon.