Question A

Solar Energy is any type of energy generated by sun. The energy is in the form of

the solar radiation, which make the production of the solar electricity possible. There are

different ways of capturing solar radiation and converting it into usable energy. The

method use either active solar energy or passive solar energy. Example of the active solar

energy is the solar electricity can be produce directly from the photovoltaic cell, PV cell.

These cells are made from material which exhibits the photovoltaic effect. Therefore,

when the sunshine hits the PV cell, the photons of light will excite the electron in the cell

and cause them to flow, generating electricity. During the usage, the solar energy will not

produce any emission and according to the statistical research done by the National

Geographic Society, one megawatt hour of solar electricity offset about 0.75-1 tons of

carbon dioxide.

Malaysia is situated at the equatorial region with an average solar radiation of

400–600 MJ/m2 per month. It has a promising potential to establish large scale solar

power installations; however, solar energy is still at the infancy stage due to the high cost

of photovoltaic (PV) cells and solar electricity tariff rate. The Malaysia Energy Sector is

still heavily dependent on the non-renewable fuel such as the fossil fuel and natural gases

as a source of the energy. With uncertainties in price, depletion and environmental issues

surrounding the non-renewable sources, the renewable energy sources such as the solar

energy plays a meaningful role as the country fifth fuel. The Malaysian government is

keen to develop solar energy as one of the significant sources of energy in the country.

However, the usage of the solar energy is still very uncommon in the country. One of the

reason is the price of installing PV is unaffordable by the citizens. According to the

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9th Malaysia Plan (9MP), a large allocation had been dedicated for implementation of

solar PV systems. On 25th July 2005, a Malaysian Building Integrated Photovoltaic

(MBIPV) project had been announced and it was planned to end by 2010. The project

consists of three categories which include: BIPV demonstration, national “SURIA1000”

and BIPV showcase. Greater emphasis will be placed on energy efficiency under the

Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011–2015). This paper discusses present and future situation of

solar power in Malaysia, utilization of solar energy and the strategies taken by the

Malaysian government and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to promote solar

energy thermal applications and electricity power generation in the future. ( Zainal, 2012)

Although Malaysia is the world’s fourth largest PV modules producer, solar

technology is ironically not adopted widely here. One reason is the cost of installing PV

systems in Malaysia is expensive, even though the cost is falling at a rate of more than 10%

per year. In 2005, for instance, the cost of PV system per kW peak was RM31410, falling

to RM24970 in 2007, and to RM20439 in 2009. Today, the cost has reduced to about

RM15, 000 per kW peak – a rate still unaffordable or impractical to most Malaysians.

Besides, there is lack of expertise about the solar energy working system in

Malaysia that had caused the solar energy usage is uncommon in the country. For

example, Edra Power Holding Sdn.Bhd had announced that the company will be building

a RM 400 million solar power plant in Kedah but the company faced the problem of lack

of expertise in the solar energy industry either in the area of the plant management

including logistic, client relationship, quality control , marketing and administration.

(Nick, 2016)

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 In additional, there is lack of public interest and awareness on the solar energy

in Malaysia. Public interest at National Level can be considered as relatively low. Most

Malaysians are not aware of what and how solar energy works to generate energy and

how it will be beneficial to them. The environmental and the energy issued are being

ignored as the public take it for granted and hope that the government will propose a

solution when the problems arise. This is because there is still fossil fuel and other non-

renewable fuel available in Malaysia that cause the public to overlook the green

technology such as solar energy although Malaysia has potential to fully develop in this

area. For example, more than 5% of the respondent in a survey commented that they do

not know about the various types of technology, which is why they are unable to support

the use of renewable energy. (Jamalludin, 2010)

Moreover, one of the barriers that cause why the solar energy is uncommon in

Malaysia is the Administrative and Political Barrier. This barrier encompasses the

political, institutional and regulatory conditions. A power structure is considering as

importance in ensuring success in achieving the target of solar energy in Malaysia. The

current problem in the administrative perspective is lack of attention given to the

maintenance factor by the government. Another issue which is worth of consideration is

the lack of cooperation involved in implementing the solar energy in Malaysia. There is

also absence of the powerful implementation of the solar energy that is mention in the

Malaysia Development Plan. Meanwhile, there is also insufficient funding from the

government for most of the project about solar energy in Malaysia. There is also no

specific loan from the financial sector to encourage the development of the solar

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technology and the private sector is often consider more profit conscious in the short term

rather than the long term. (Yusoff, 2012)

The market can also be acted as one of the barrier why the solar energy is

uncommon in Malaysia. For example, the market in Malaysia is being charged with high

duty fees. Generally, the equipment used for the generation of solar energy, transmission

and distribution of electricity attracts import duties up to 45% and sales tax of 10% and

some equipment may require an import license which will serve as a barrier for the solar

energy production in the country.

There are several solution can be done to solve the problems of uncommon use of

solar energy in Malaysia. First and foremost in the case of the high financial price of

installing PV for solar energy system, the government should offer economic incentive to

investors and users of the solar energy technologies in the country. For example, the in

order to implement the solar energy in building, acts and policies regarding the incentive

subsidies should be passed for all future development. The legislation should include

incentives subsidies for the solar technology such as the BIPV system connected to the

grid supply for large scale development and the thin film solar panel to be incorporated in

residential building or small projects and the solar energy as a preferred component of

electricity generations for use in homes and other buildings. In addition, the government

can also plays a key role in encouraging the public sector to enter the solar technology

market by giving tax relief or rebates to those who implement solar energy conversion.

Tax relief can appeal to the public and create an interest. Rebates can be given in the

form of the electric bills if their daily energy generations and consumption are from a

solar energy source.

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 Secondly, the private sector and financial institutions are very influential in the

construction industry and can be potentially affect the solar technology market.

Developer should be instilled with the awareness of environmental issue and the need for

the energy efficiency in buildings, while self-motivated to use solar technology in their

project should be encouraged. Financial developers could offer developers loans with

special interest rates for development incorporating solar technology. A ‘National Solar

Technology Fund’ could be set in a campaign to create more awareness among the public

and to encourage people to seek out the solar technology for domestic purposes.

In Consequence, undoubtedly that the skilled manpower or labors in this

industry is crucial and plays an important role in developing the solar energy in Malaysia.

Therefore, The Department of Education can introduce solar energy or solar technology

as a wide of the subject. Moreover, the scope of the solar technology is wide and there is

much to explore and develop, therefore the programed about the solar energy can be

proposed at the higher education level to train more professional engineers or technician

to develop the solar energy technology in Malaysia. Technical or vocational schools and

comprehensive diploma programs in universities can produce the required expertise in

this field.

According to the research done by the S.Khalid Hussain, the public awareness is

very important to increase the usage of solar energy in Malaysia. Therefore, the

government and Non-government Organization should create awareness among the

citizens of the Malaysia about the benefits of using solar energy for electricity generation.

This can be done by advertising the usage of solar panels (photovoltaic ) installed or

mounted on rooftops of individual house and buildings and how it will benefit them in

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the future via streaming of television or any online social media. For example, the

government can create more awareness policies and campaign such as the programs of

Malaysian Building Integrated Phtovoltaic (MBIPV), Feed in Tariff (FIT) and Suria 1000.

The government launch Suria 1000 is to establish new market in BIPV and targets the

residential and commercial sector. A number of grid-connected solar PV systems will be

put on auction or biding through the mass media and this allow the creation of a

sustainable BIPV market. This market will allow more BIPV to be implemented in

offices and residences. (S.Mekhilef,2010)

Figure 1.0: Pubic view on the level of organization role in solar energy development in

Malaysia.

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ud

Figure 2.0: Public Attitude towards the implementation of new solar energy project.

In conclusion, solar energy is an energy source which is unlimited supplied by the

nature but Malaysia energy sector is still dependent on the conventional energy such as

fossil fuels and natural gases. In Malaysia, we have abundant of solar energy radiation

compared with other western countries. Therefore, we should try to rely more on using

renewable energy such as solar energy. We should try to reducing the usage of the non-

renewable energies such as the coal, oil and natural gas and we should try our best to rely

more on renewable energy. Renewable energy such as the solar energy is very important

to us as it provides many advantages such as minimizing the percentage of global

warming and pollution in various types such as air pollution, sound pollution and water

pollution. I strongly encourage everyone to use solar energy as the main electricity

supplier by installing solar panel at home as it would save us from polluting our planet

and environment. Although the installation of the solar panel might be a bit high in price

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in the form of the installation unit, but the investment will be worth it if we are patient

enough. It is inevitable that the solar energy industry in Malaysia will be improved in the

future. The factors that dictate how fast the improvement is all in our decisions whether

we will accept solar energy as a reliable source of energy in Malaysia.

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Question B

Nuclear Power is the use of the nuclear reaction that release nuclear energy to

generate heat, which most frequently is used in the steam turbine to produce electricity in

a nuclear power plant. Besides, the nuclear can also be defined as the ability to control

nuclear fission reactions, in which atoms of radioactive elements such as the uranium

split apart into smaller atoms and liberate energy in the process, represent one of the great

technology feats of the twentieth century. Hardness as heat, the release energy boils water,

producing steam that drives turbines, thereby being converted to mechanical energy that

generates electricity. Nowadays, Malaysia still generates electricity from the older natural

resources such as the fossil fuel and natural gases. So, does Malaysia need to have a step

change to produce and generate electricity by using nuclear sources?

In my opinion, I strongly felt that Malaysia should not go into producing power

with a nuclear source. One of the reason why I felt so is because there will be health

impact to the citizens if producing power with nuclear source. Nuclear reactor has

serious environmental and public health impact. Radioactive air and water pollution is

released through the routine operation of all nuclear reactors. A wide range of radioactive

isotopes are released with varying radioactive and chemical properties which some

contain the toxic while some is more radioactive than the other which some of the

radioactive will last for billions of years. According to the research done by the director

of the Oregon State University Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health

Physics, he claimed that as the radioactive material decays or break down, the energy

released into the environment has two ways of harming a body that is exposed to it. It can

directly kill the cells or it can cause mutation to the DNA. If those mutations are not

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repaired, it can cause cancerous. For example, radioactive iodine tends to be adsorbed by

the thyroid gland and can cause thyroid cancer while radioactive cesium can stay in the

environment for more than a century. Besides, a study in Mainz, Germany shown that

risk of getting cancer, particularly leukemia is increasing for the children growing up in

the neighborhood of a nuclear power station. The result shows a significant higher risk to

get cancer if the children lived within a circle of less than 5km around a nuclear power

plant. There were 77 cases of cancer (60% more than expected in normal statistical

values) and 37 cases of leukemia (117% more than expected). (Green America,2010)

The second reason why I disagree to use nuclear sources for produce electricity in

Malaysia is that there will be reactor accidents and leakage in nuclear plant. From all

the electricity generation technologies, nuclear power is one which is capable of

catastrophic accidents. Once these types of accidents had happened, does Malaysia

government had the capability and capacity to deal with the catastrophic event such as

reactor melt down or leakage? Is the public willing to accept this risk when cheaper and

safer energy alternative such as solar energy are available and Malaysia government can

try to explore their development in solar energy area rather than nuclear power in the

aspect of producing electricity to replace those non-renewable energy such as fossil fuel

and natural gases. Although the probability of nuclear explosion is minor, but there is still

a significant risk of core meltdown and for steam and chemical explosions. This would

lead to a release of large fraction of its radioactive inventory. For example in 1979 a

combination of technical faults and operator errors led to loss of coolant and a partial

meltdown of the core of the nuclear power station at Three Mile Island in the USA where

limited quantity of radiation was released. The worst accident at a nuclear power station

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was at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. A combination of operator errors, inadequate

safety procedures and poor reactor design led to explosions of steam and hydrogen that

released vast quantities of radioactive materials over the Ukraine, Belarus and much of

Europe. Millions of people in the Northern hemisphere have suffered and will continue

to suffer from the Chernobyl catastrophe due to exposure to radiation.The US Nuclear

Regulatory Commission has reported that at least 27 of America's 104 licensed reactors

are now leaking radioactive tritium. The worst case is reported to be Entergy's Vermont

Yankee. High levels of contamination have been found in test wells around the reactor,

and experts believe the Connecticut River is at serious risk. (Nuclear Energy, 2011)

Figure 1.0 Example of sample for nuclear power plant accident

Another reason why I disagree for using nuclear sources for produce electricity in

Malaysia is nuclear power is the most expensive form of power and could not exist

without massive subsides. As it is so expensive to build, the price of the electricity they

produce will be exorbitant too. Besides, a great deal of money has to be spent and

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accumulate large amounts of interest before there is any revenue. This cost would

ultimately being transfer to the consumer through the price hike. Nuclear energy would

also be heavily subsidized but most of these subsidies are hidden. For instance the

nuclear industry does not pay the full cost of insuring against a catastrophic accident such

as in Chernobyl. Another subsidy for the industry is when the federal government

normally pickups the tab when accidents or leakages occur.

In addition, the reactors of the nuclear power will required a huge amount of

cooling water which is why they are often located near rivers, lakes or oceans. The

initial devastation of marine life and ecosystems stems from the powerful intake of water

into the nuclear reactor. Marine life, ranging from fish larvae to microscopic planktonic

organisms vital to the ocean ecosystem, is sucked irresistibly into the reactor cooling

system. Some of these animals are killed when trapped against filters, grates, and other

structures. An equally huge volume of wastewater is discharged at temperatures hotter

than the water into which it flows and this would also be detrimental to aquatic life.

In consequence, Malaysia lack of manpower and professional engineers to build

and maintain the nuclear power reactor plant. Nuclear Power plant required human factor

in managing and operate the power plant. This is because alongside the nuclear physic

knowledge in the power plant, the plant required safety critical computer system, which

includes both software and hardware that is used to control and monitor the plant. This

safety critical system is the most crucial part and the entire operation of the nuclear

power plant heavily relies on it. Basically safety crucial system is a computer (including

software), electronic or electromechanical system whose failure may be a catastrophe,

causing injury or death to human beings. This safety critical system comprises high

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integrity software. The safety critical system, both hardware and software, are developed

using SPARK programming language. In today, none of the Malaysia academics have the

details knowledge about the SPARK programming language. Besides software engineers

who know the SPARK programming language, the individual developer and organization

are required to go through the rigorous software development and safety critical

validation process. Therefore, it can be seen that Malaysia lacks qualified software

engineer of such competency to develop and maintain high integrity software system. It is

costly to maintain such system by contract in employing oversea software engineer. The

maintenance will increase the cost of energy production and hence will be borne by

consumers. Moreover, the safety critical system of a power plant must be thoroughly

tested with proven track records and Malaysia also lack of professional Nuclear Engineer

to respond to emergencies such as system shut down or nuclear meltdown.(Monk.J,2013)

Moreover, one of the main point I disagree to use nuclear power to generate

electricity in Malaysia is it have difficulty in the management of the nuclear waste. It

takes many years to eliminate its risks and radioactive. The nuclear chain begins with

uranium mining, a polluting activity that devastates large areas. Uranium ore can contain

as little as 500 grammes recoverable uranium per million grammes of earth. Enormous

amounts of rock have to be dug up, crushed and chemically processed to extract the

uranium. The remaining wastes or ‘tailings’, still contain large amounts of radioactivity

and are often stored in poor condition, resulting in the contamination of surface and

groundwater.Radioactive wastes are produced continually in reactors. High-level nuclear

waste (also called irradiated or “spent” fuel) is more radioactive than when the fuel rods

were loaded into the reactor. This waste is so lethal that standing near it without shielding

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causes fatality within minutes. This waste is hazardous for years and no technology exists

to keep it isolated for long.Irradiated fuel rods are stored in storage pools inside reactor

buildings. If someone accidentally drained the water from the pool, the "spent fuel"

would spontaneously burst into flame and burn out of control for days, releasing clouds

of highly-radioactive material all the while. Besides this, in case of leakage, what is going

to happen to the radioactively contaminated water? Where will the massive volume of

water outflow? Another type of waste is low-level radioactive waste which is all other

radioactive waste from reactors. Large amounts of this waste has to be buried and over

the years may leak and contaminate groundwater. (Albert, 2008)

In additional, nuclear power is not a renewable energy which is the same as

with the fossil fuel and natural gas as nuclear power use the uranium as fuel, which is a

scarce resource. The supply of uranium is expected to last only for the next 30-60 years

which need to depending on the actual market demand also as it might be longer or

shorter than the particular periods. Even if we could find enough feasible sites for a new

generation of nuclear plants, we’re running out of the uranium necessary to power them.

Scientists in both the US and UK have shown that if the current level of nuclear power

were expanded to provide all the world's electricity, our uranium would be depleted in

less than ten years. As uranium supplies dwindle, nuclear plants will actually begin to

use up more energy to mine and mill the uranium than can be recovered through the

nuclear reactor process. Dwindling supplies will also trigger the use of ever lower

grades of uranium, which produce ever more climate-change-producing emissions –

resulting in a climate-change catch 22. To increase our access to uranium, there will be

heightened pressure to open new mines and expand existing mines, including in fragile or

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protected areas, bringing increased risk to mine workers and local communities, and

contributing to the overall issue of increases in background radiation local to the mines

and globally. Therefore, nuclear power is not a renewable energy and it is for sure not

environmental friendly. Besides, uranium is also a very scarce resource and exists only in

certain countries and permission of several international authorities are required before

the nuclear power plant can be build. Nuclear energy proponents state that greenhouse

gas emissions can be reduced. Nuclear reactors, which produce energy based on the

fissioning of uranium atoms, do not directly emit greenhouse gases (GHGs). Nevertheless

each step of the nuclear fuel cycle, right from uranium ore mining and processing, to fuel

fabrication and reactor construction, from spent fuel reprocessing to eventual

decommissioning and waste storage, involves emissions, including GHG.

One of the disadvantages of generate electricity by using nuclear power is that the

technology and resources used to produce nuclear power can also be used in

malicious activities such as illegal nuclear weapons manufacturing. For example, a

terrorist may crash an airplane in to a nuclear reactor or radioactive waste plant.

Not forgetting that to set up a nuclear plant to produce electricity, it needs a place

scale up to 17000. Therefore, nuclear plant is not possible to build in Malaysia to

generate electricity due to the limitation of the feasible sites. Besides, nuclear plant need

to locate near the source of water for cooling and there are not enough locations in the

country that are safe from droughts, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes or any potential

disasters that could trigger a nuclear accident. There are many community and Non-

Government Organization in Malaysia that did not allow the nuclear plant to be built,

thus further limiting the potential sites. And there are whole areas of the world that are

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unsafe because of political instability and the high risk of proliferation. In short, because

of geography, local politics, political instability and climate change itself, there are not

enough sites for a scaled-up nuclear power strategy.

In conclusion, I strongly disagree with the proposal of using nuclear source for

producing electricity due to the several important impact that may be cause by the

manufacturing of the power plant in Malaysia either the impact is in the form of human

health, environment safety or country safety.

References

1) Albert. 2008. Nuclear Power Plant for Malaysia. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://adrianhoe.com/adrianhoe/2010/05/06/nuclear-power-plant-for-malaysia/.

[Accessed 19 March 2017].

2) Jamludin Sulaiman. 2010. International Journal of Sustainable Energy and

Environmental Research. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.pakinsight.com/pdf-files/ene/13/IJSEER-2014-3(2)-90-99.pdf.

[Accessed 18 March 2017].

3) Monk.J. 2013. Nuclear Power. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/climate/dirtyenergy/nuclear.cfm.

[Accessed 19 March 2017].

4) Nuclear Energy. 2011. Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power.

[ONLINE] Available at: https://nuclear-energy.net/advantages-and-

disadvantages-of-nuclear-energy.html.

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 [Accessed 19 March 2017].

5) Sumiani Yusoff. 2012. Barriers and challenges for deve loping RE policy in

Malaysia . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ipcbee.com/vol28/2-ICFEE2012-

F003.pdf. [Accessed 18 March 2017].

6) S. Mekhilef . 2010. 5 th International Symposium on Hydrocarbons & Chemistry

(ISHC5), Sidi Fredj, Algiers, May the 23 rd to 25 th , 2010 - 1 - RENEWABLE

ENERGY RESOURCES A ND TECHNOLOGIES PRACTICE IN MALAYSIA .

[ONLINE] Available at: http://eprints.um.edu.my/3184/2/MEKHILEF_Saad.pdf.

[Accessed 18 March 2017].

7) Zainal Ahmad. 2012. Current status and Challenges of Solar Energy in

Malaysia . [ONLINE] Available at:

https://www.academia.edu/3480961/Current_status_and_Challenges_of_S

olar_Energy_in_Malaysia_A_Review. [Accessed 18 March 2017].

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