75th Professorial Inaugural Lecture Series by Professor Dr. Zainal Salam

Electricity from the sun—in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) is envisaged to be an important source of future energy. This can be attributed to its environmentally friendly nature and long-term economic feasibility. In its early days—due to the very high cost, PV is only used in high-end applications such as space and satellite systems. However, with the continuous decline in the cost of modules, PV is now being widely installed in residential homes. More recently, Megawatt PV power plants have been connected to the electrical grid—signaling its entry into the commercial power generation sector.

Despite these encouraging prospects, there remain barriers that hinder the widespread penetration of this technology. Besides the relatively high capital cost (in Watt per Dollar), it faces uncertainties from the fluctuation of oil prices. Then, there are resistances form the power generation companies and the social acceptance that need to be overcome. Even with the generous subsidized “feed-in-tariff”, PV has still some way to go before it can pose a serious challenge to more established fossil-fuel based electricity.

This lecture will highlight the state-of-the-art of solar power technology and its integration into the grid. In addition, the role of PV in the distributed power generation—which forms the backbone of the future smart grid systems, shall also be discussed. Another important note is the pledges made by various governments (including Malaysia) to increase the share of green technology into their energy mix. This could well be the catalyst for a sustainable growth of PV throughout the world. Finally, the talk will touch on the prospects of PV research in in Malaysia, and highlights some of the work that has taken place in UTM.