Rooftop solar installation for commercial and industrial businesses and companies provides a perfect opportunity to generate significant amount of savings to monthly TNB payments. The economic potential of such technology has seen significant improvements over recent decades, pivoted by local tax incentives such as the Green Investment Tax Incentive (GITA) and the comparatively cheaper manufacturing cost of solar panels, compared to a decade ago. The attractiveness of rooftop solar is growing, and the commercial business case for rooftop solar will continue to become more attractive as rooftop solar increasingly develops into a cost- effective energy solution. The case is propelled further with Malaysia being in a favourable geographical position – offering substantial solar irradiation and sun hours, combined with a significant urban rooftop estate. Malaysia is positioned to unlock even greater generation capacity in future.

The potential of rooftop solar is immense; there are, however, some physical limitations and challenges faced from installation of solar panels. A key challenge is that rooftops need to be of a certain size and design to be suitable for such solar installations. The more substantial the rooftop size and the less complicated its design, the greater the return on investment. On the contrary, oversizing installable capacity without a careful understanding of daily load profiles would result in energy wastage. This effectively results in a lower return on investment for commercial and industrial business company owners.