VIRTUAL TOUR
2019
10 MaySolar Photovoltaic Engineering Workshop Series by Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd
The Solar Photovoltaic Engineering Workshop Series is the first of its kind in the local scene. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility programme; the idea was conceptualised by Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd to inspire more young talent, particularly university students to explore career and research opportunities in the field of renewable energy.
The series of workshops that followed received positive feedback in the past few years. Ever since, the workshop has been in high demand by both public and private universities within the Kuala Lumpur region.
Therefore, it was a great honour for UCSI IEEE HKN Mu Alpha Chapter to be given the chance to collaborate with Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd to host the largest solar photovoltaic engineering workshop in this series.
This time, the workshop which held on May 10, 2019 at Le Quadri Ballroom, UCSI College KL Campus, was attended by around 160 university students from four local universities; namely Xiamen University, International Islamic University Malaysia, University of Malaya as well as UCSI University as the event host.
The workshop kick started with a warm welcome to the audience by the Master of Ceremonies, Aaron. The workshop’s introductory speech was then delivered by president of UCSI IEEE HKN Mu Alpha Chapter, Harry Hoon Jian Wen.
Harry expressed his gratitude to all the participants who had positively responded to the event, not forgetting to acknowledge the committee members who contributed their time and effort to liaise with both internal and external parties in making the necessary event preparations.
This was followed by an opening speech by the chief operating officer of Plus Solar Systems Sdn. Bhd., Poh Tying Huei, who also thanked all parties involved for making the event a success. Poh explained to the audience the company’s vision and mission in line with the ultimate objectives of the workshop which was to nurture more young talents in the renewable energy sector.
The spotlight then shifted to the speaker of the day, general manager of Plus Solar Systems Sdn. Bhd., Simon Wong to present the highlight of the workshop. A Slido session was opened to simplify the process of collecting questions from the floor throughout the workshop.
The audience was first exposed to the key factors that made solar photovoltaic (PV) technology remain more prominent than other renewable energy sources. Since PV generates energy from the sun; it poses no fuel costs unlike biomass and nuclear energy. Its source of energy is also vastly available to a large geographical area in the world, unlike wind and geothermal energy.
Simon then established the underlying governmental policies that have helped drive growth in the solar PV field, including Suria 1000, Feed-in Tariffs and Net Energy Metering. The audience was then introduced to the various components that make up a complete solar PV system, which mainly comprised of the PV panels, inverters and the various protection devices such as SPDs (surge protection devices) and fuses.
After the background studies were set, Simon gave a brief explanation on the MS 1837: 2010 Malaysian standard on the installation of grid connected PV systems. The standard defined various specifications for the PV system components such as fuse ratings and cable sizing in ensuring the safety and integrity of the system.
Later, he proceeded with the engineering procedures involved in solar PV system design and sizing, as practised by the company. This discussion covered technical calculations of how the inverters and panels are sized to accommodate the unique characteristics of every system posed by the client. Several sizing limits include roof area and electrical safety restrictions. Simon also intermittently opened the session to the floor to answer questions posed by the audiences.
The session resumed after a short break to discuss the solar PV system testing procedures. All these are in accordance with the Malaysian standards to ensure proper functionality and safety of the PV system before its commission and hand-over to the client.
Simon also shared several case studies that Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd had undertaken and the industrial practices exercised by the company. This was a reality check to reflect practical implementations of PV systems with those designed within defined ideal parameters.
In addition, a short session was slotted in to introduce SOURCE to the audience. The session was conducted by technology development engineer of Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd, Guan. SOURCE was introduced as a data monitoring platform which is an in-house product owned by the company. It is a cloud database that accumulates data acquired by sensors that are integrated into the PV systems to measure various parameters that can reflect on the performance of the PV system.
This allows for big data analytics to explore the possibilities created by machine learning. A simulation of the SOURCE programme was presented to allow the audience to explore the various variables and see the inter-relationships between these parameters.
Towards the end of the event, Simon answered a final Q&A session from the floor. The event wrapped up with the presentation of tokens of appreciation to the Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd and a group photo with the audience.
