INGENIEUR
Do You
Know?
Emerging
Technology
By Pang Soo Mooi
Malaysia is the third largest producer of
Photovoltaic (PV) cells – SUN Daily
According to Malaysian Investment Development
Authority’s (MIDA) CEO, Datuk Azman Mahmud,
“The value of exports by solar manufacturing
companies from Malaysia in 2016 was RM11.1
billion while local sourcing activities were
valued at RM1.42 billion. The country has an
almost complete solar ecosystem of some 250
companies involved in upstream (producing
wafers and cells) and downstream (inverters and
system integrators) activities.
48 solar projects totalling RM28 billion in
investments in 2015 have been implemented
which has created 26,700 jobs.”
“Malaysia attracted RM1.77 billion worth of
investments in the sector last year and another
RM650 million from 83 renewable energy (RE)
projects,” he added.
“The largest investment last year was a
RM1.06 billion plant by Xi’an LONGi Silicon
Materials Corp, a major solar PV company from
China, located at the Sama Jaya Free Industrial
Zone in Sarawak which created 2,360 jobs. The
presence of high technology and established solar
players is crucial to the completion of the whole
solar ecosystem in Malaysia. The Malaysian Solar
PV Roadmap 2030 will be launched before the
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end of this year to drive the industry forward,”
he said in his opening speech at the PV CellTech
2017 Conference yesterday.
Wikipedia: Malaysia is a major hub for solar
equipment manufacturing, with factories of
companies like First Solar, Panasonic, TS
Solartech, Jinko Solar, JA Solar, SunPower, Q-Cells,
and SunEdison in locations like Kulim, Penang,
Malacca, Cyberjaya, and Ipoh.
Many international companies have the
majority of production capacity located in Malaysia,
such as the American company First Solar which
has over 2000 MW of production capacity located
in Kulim and only 280 MW located in Ohio, and
German-based Q-Cells which produces 1,100 MW
worth of solar cells in Cyberjaya while producing
only 200 MW worth of solar cells in Germany.
SunPower’s largest manufacturing facility with a
capacity of 1400 MW is also located in Malacca.
Made-in-Malaysia Lithium Ion Batteries
- New Straits Times
In January 2019, Malaysia became the first
country in ASEAN to produce lithium ion batteries,
with the production of the the 18650 battery.
The party involved in this battery-prototype and
production venture is a locally listed company that
has been working with MARii (Malaysia Automotive
Robotics and IoT Institute) for the past few years.
According to MARii, the country’s energy-
efficient vehicle penetration rate was expected to
reach 70% in 2018 from 62%, or 339,978 units,
last year.
Devasting Downside of e-Waste - Thalif
Deen, New Straits Times
The widespread innovations in modern digital
technology have a devastating downside with the
accumulation of over 500 million tons of electronic
waste (e-waste) globally every year.
And that’s greater in weight than all of the
world’s commercial airliners ever made, or enough
Eiffel Towers to fill the borough of Manhattan in New
York City, warns a new report released at the World
Economic Forum in Davos on January 24, 2019.