Suitability of rooftop solar photovoltaic at educational building towards energy sustainability in Malaysia

Abstract

To maintain the sustainability of the country's energy resources and less carbon, the Malaysian Government has set several strategies for achieving this target. One of them is using renewable energy (RE) sources. Solar energy is one of the most prospective sources because it is abundant and easy to implement. With increased interest and existing limitations, the application of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is experiencing a significant increase as an alternative energy provider in Malaysia. However, further investigation is necessary to explore the suitability of rooftop solar PV based on its potential. The present work studies the potential of installing solar PV on the rooftop of educational buildings with various roof tilted angles. To this end, results show that the potential PV generation is significantly high even for small rooftop areas at certain education buildings and can accommodate the institute's energy load demand. Positive high savings for energy and electricity bills also show that installing rooftop solar PV benefits education institutes. Emission savings could reach approximately 26,260 tCO2 or 21,358 tCO2 annually for c-Si and mc-Si, respectively. These results show that rooftop solar PV can be suitable for an educational building. This study also could be used as support information by the decision maker and education institution administration in implementing solar PV to achieve national aspiration toward energy sustainability and, simultaneously, decarbonise the energy supply.