Solar PV Can Help Businesses Save At Least 25% in Electricity Cost, Says UOB
UOB Malaysia deputy chief executive officer Ng Wei Wei said:”Landed residential property households get to enjoy between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of monthly savings in electricity bills.”
KUALA LUMPUR: A typical solar photovoltaic (PV) panel installation on commercial or industrial properties would help businesses to save potentially at least 25 per cent in electricity cost, UOB Malaysia deputy chief executive officer Ng Wei Wei said.
She said the amount of savings translates to an average payback period of three to five years on businesses’ total investments.
“Landed residential property households get to enjoy between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of monthly savings in electricity bills.
“Companies and individuals can save money while reducing their carbon footprint,” she said in her keynote address at a webinar titled “Solar power as a renewable source of energy in Malaysia” today.
In addition, she said, solar power has become a more affordable, accessible and reliable source of renewable energy in Southeast Asia and the entry cost of procuring a solar system has seen a significant reduction of almost 70 per cent from 2010 to 2020.
Ng said UOB has launched the U-Solar programme to help customers address their cost concerns in relation to installing and operating solar power systems in their homes, business premises and factories.
According to her, the programme has helped its customers to generate 32,000 megawatt hours in solar power and contributed to greenhouse gas reduction of 21.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the country, which is equivalent to 4,650 cars being taken off the road for a year.
“We expect the demand for our U-Solar solutions to rise as we are seeing increasing interest in solar energy, especially coming from the commercial, industrial, and residential sectors,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ng said there will be an estimated US$1 trillion (US$1=RM4.23) of annual economic opportunities in Southeast Asia by 2030 as the region moves towards a greener economy.
UOB, she said, is committed to playing a role and aims to build a sustainable finance portfolio of US$15 billion by 2023 given the increasing demand by businesses for such opportunities.
As of June 2021, the bank had already hit US$13 billion.
She said as sustainability becomes increasingly important beyond the traditional profit-making goals, companies must integrate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) considerations into their business strategies in order to better compete in the longer term.
“The future is bright for solar power. Investing in clean and renewable energy such as solar is one of the many ways to significantly reduce the carbon footprint in your business,” she said.
She added that there is a strong push from the government to increase renewable energy in the country’s power capacity mix target to 31 per cent by 2025 and 40 per cent by 2035, and solar would be the main contributor. – Bernama
Source: thestar
