INGENIEUR
What Others Say About Green Engineering
REPORT
By Samniang Saenram
Malaysia ’ s Energy Policy
The announcement that the Malaysian Government will launch the National Energy Policy 2021-2040 to advance Malaysia ’ s sustainable goal and to boost investment flows will set the tone to guide Malaysia ’ s transition to a low-carbon future . Presently , renewable energy accounts for just 18 % of the country ’ s energy mix and great effort is being undertaken to raise the bar .
The action to combat climate change is gathering momentum globally . Green energy is one key area of focus in that direction . According to the Global Carbon Project , Malaysia had the second highest carbon dioxide emissions per capita in ASEAN as of 2019 , with 7.83 tonnes , behind only Brunei .
Various initiatives taken by Malaysian agencies and the private sector on green engineering will enable the nation to be in the forefront of sustainable energy utilisation in line with the United Nations ’ Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ).
China ’ s Solar Power has reached Price Parity with Coal ( Source : John Timmer )
The incredible plunge in the price of photovoltaic systems has made solar power an affordable option for much of the world . And as long as solar is providing a small fraction of the power on a given grid , there ’ s little holding back the addition of new photovoltaic facilities . But as the fraction of solar power grows , managing the fact that it only generates electricity intermittently becomes a significant grid-management challenge .
At that point , factors other than price become significant in determining how much solar energy makes sense . And those factors can vary from country to country . This means that understanding solar ’ s potential requires a country-specific analysis . Researchers in China released an analysis of their country , indicating that solar has now reached a point where it is cost-competitive with coal . The report also states that solar ( when coupled with storage ) could handle nearly half of China ’ s needs by mid-century .
A changing landscape Like everywhere else , China has seen the cost of solar power dive over the last decade , with a 63 % drop between 2011 and 2018 alone . In line with that , the installation of solar has risen dramatically . Currently , a third of the entire planet ’ s new solar capacity is being commissioned in China ; the country passed the installed capacity of the US in 2013 and Germany in 2015 , and it now has over 250 GW active — well more than double what its economic plan had specified by this point .
To get a clearer picture , the researchers built a model that takes into account most of the factors influencing solar ’ s performance . The model tracks changes in technology , economics , solar resources , and the Chinese grid for the period from 2020 to 2060 . It used six years of satellite weather data to estimate typical productivity in different areas of the country , and it included information on existing land use that would interfere with solar-farm siting .
A lot of potential Among other things , the model produces what the researchers term the “ technical potential ”— the amount of solar energy that could be produced if
74 VOL 91 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2022