Yee: Beware of solar PV quota scam agents
Published on: Saturday, September 20, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: KOTA KINABALU: The Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) Malaysia has warned the people against solar photovoltaic (PV) quota scam agents.Chairman, Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai said most of the victims were those unaware that Seda is not issuing any more new quota for 2014 and 2015 and that there was never any guaranteeing of quota from Seda to any applicants."Yet, there are some unscrupulous people who are still taking the opportunity to make easy money from the public with fabricated information," he said at the stakeholders' engagement workshop and dialogue session on the review of the Degression Rates for Solar PV (2015) at Grandis Hotel and Resorts here Friday.
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Nonetheless, Dr Yee said these scams were hurting an emerging residential solar PV market, which was intended for the betterment of the future by providing energy, security to the country, energy autonomy to the individuals, and environment protection measures against climate change."These scams destroy the public's confidence about investing in solar PV systems and most of these individuals will have difficulties recovering their hard earning savings," he said.On this note, he was pleased to learn that so far no PV service providers in Sabah were involved and hoped it would remained this way."We hope you will maintain a high ethical standard and set yourself an exemplary role model for others in Peninsular Malaysia to follow," he said, adding he welcomed the initiative of the Malaysia PV Industry Association for its joint-effort with Seda to develop a customer guide on solar PV systems for households.
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The association was also working on a standard solar PV sales contract, which the public can use as a template and impose on their PV service providers to use, he said.Dr Yee said both are expected to be ready for public circulation by next month probably at the International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition Malaysia (IGEM) 2014.
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Some salient points from the customer guide: please ensure the PV service providers are authorised PV agents by Seda and these companies can be found listed in Seda's website; limit the deposit to no more than RM1,000, all payments (save for deposit) shall be in non-cash form; countercheck with Seda's website on PV service providers' claim of quota availability; and resist being drawn by greed on unrealistic monthly income from Feed-in-Tariff (FiT).Meanwhile, Dr Yee said Seda has proposed degression rates of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent for solar PV, which was required to ensure financial efficiency of the use of the Renewable Energy Fund.To this end, Seda had reviewed degression rates for solar PV on annual basis and it was more frequently done than any other renewable resources under the FiT portfolio."The reason for this is because solar PV is the youngest renewable energy technology compared with others. With any emerging technologies, the opportunity for price reduction is great due to advancement in research and development, which improves the efficiency of the solar PV system, and cost reduction due to increasing production volumes," he said.Seda together with the support of the Green Technology, Energy and Water Ministry have decided to continue to impose degression on solar PV for installed capacities commencing from the lowest band.Individuals eligible for the 2015 quota would be given opportunity to revise their milestone dates as their commercial operation date would be no longer be in 2014 but in 2015, he said."They are advised to obtain fresh quotations from PV service providers; they are also not obliged to remain with the original PV service provider," he said.According to Seda, these individuals also have the option to withdraw their earlier applications if they do not wish to proceed with the 2015 quota allocation.The proposed degression rates for solar PV with installed capacities of up to 24Kw would be 10 per cent, above 24kW up to 1MW would be 15 per cent and 20 per cent for installed capacities above 1MW and up to 30 MW.Additionally, the degression rates for bonus criteria for solar PV use as installation in buildings or building structures would be 20 per cent and for use as building material would be 80 per cent.For the non-individuals, Seda was now in the midst of preparing the process for opening of solar PV quota for 2015 when a maximum of 20MW would be released for installed capacity of solar PV up to 425 kW whereas a maximum of 34 MW of solar PV for installed capacity greater than 425 kW and up to 1MW.As of end of August 2014, Dr Yee said Seda had approved 4,537 applications with a total renewable energy capacity of 811.18MW, which would reach commercial operation between 2014 and 2017.Of this capacity, small hydro constituted 30.37 per cent (246.34 MW), biomass 28.74 per cent (233.14 MW), solar PV for the non-individuals 25.95 per cent (210.53 MW), biogas 9.99 per cent (81.04 MW) and solar PV for the individuals 4.95 per cent (40.13MW).As for Sabah, he said following the renewable energy quota exercise that commenced on May 2 this year, Seda had approved 299 applications with a total renewable energy capacity of 139.35 MW at the end of August 2014.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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