UPM to save RM114 mln on electricity bill using the PV solar system

SERDANG, Jan 6  -- Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is targeting to save RM114 million on electricity bills for a period of 25 years with the installation of a photovoltaic (PV) solar system, said UPM Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohd Roslan Sulaiman.

He said the 16.18-megawatt peak (MWp) project, which is the largest solar project involving a public university, would begin installing the solar panels at 16 sites around the university by the end of this month and is expected to complete in July.

He said the solar panels would be installed on the rooftop of faculty and administration buildings, mosque, as well as the lake for the floating solar project, the first Large Scale Integrated Hydroponics-Aquavoltaic for research purposes which is a collaboration between UPM and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

He said this after the signing ceremony of the Supply Agreement for Renewable Energy, here today.

According to the agreement, TNB’s subsidiary GSPARX Sdn Bhd will install the solar system with an installation cost of RM45 million funded by TNB.

Mohd Roslan said the varsity electricity bills, covering the Serdang campus and the Teaching Hospital, would reach up to RM40 million a year, which needed to be allocated under its operating expenses.

Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad in her speech said that it is estimated that the university could save between 50 and 60 per cent on electricity bills through the PV project.

"The savings will help the university in maintaining the sustainability of financial resources and use it for other more important things," she said in a speech read by the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Abdul Razak Jaafar.

-- BERNAMA