How a Port Klang 3PL operator used 15 × Huawei SUN2000-100KTL-M2 and Trina Vertex N 720W to power 24/7 reefer bays, satisfy global shipper Scope 3 ESG requirements, and achieve ROI in 5.4 years
tCO₂ offset annually
“Our top three global shipping customers — between them accounting for 58% of our annual throughput — had each issued Scope 3 carbon reduction requirements to all logistics partners by the end of 2025. Without verified renewable energy data, we would have been at risk of losing preferred-partner status in the next contract cycle. The Trexon FusionSolar installation gave us the verified generation reports we needed within six weeks of commissioning. The RM 108,000-per-month savings are operationally material — but the contract protection piece was the item that got this past our board in 48 hours.”
A cold-chain 3PL (third-party logistics) operator running a fully-occupied warehouse hub near Port Klang faces an energy economics problem that is structurally different from a standard ambient-temperature warehouse. Six active reefer bays — each maintaining a 1,200 m² cold store at between -20°C (frozen goods) and +4°C (fresh produce and pharmaceuticals) — require compressor-based refrigeration running continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The reefer compressors alone draw approximately 800–950 kW in combined load during the hottest months (March–May and August–October), when ambient outdoor temperatures push refrigeration cycle efficiency lower and compressor run-time higher.
Add the dispatch yard — truck loading docks, dock levellers, pallet conveyor systems, office HVAC, security and CCTV infrastructure, and the ERP server room — and the facility's total continuous load sits at approximately 1,800–2,200 kW. At TNB's C2 medium-voltage tariff, this translates to monthly electricity bills consistently above RM 300,000 — making this one of the highest per-site energy costs in the Malaysian logistics sector outside of container terminal operations.
For this operator — a Tier-1 3PL serving multinational FMCG, pharmaceutical, and electronics shippers with Port Klang as the primary hub for Peninsular Malaysia distribution — the energy cost was known and managed. What changed in 2025 was the ESG pressure from customers.
Three of the operator's five largest accounts — collectively representing 58% of annual throughput value — had issued Scope 3 emissions reduction requirements to all logistics partners as part of their respective net-zero commitments. Scope 3, Category 4 (upstream transportation and distribution) is the category under which logistics operators' energy consumption falls in the GHG Protocol corporate accounting framework. The customers required verified renewable electricity data — not promises — as part of the annual logistics partner scorecard review. Without this data, the operator's status as a preferred logistics partner was at risk in the 2026 contract renewal cycle.
The board approved the Trexon engagement 48 hours after the Operations Director presented the dual case: RM 108,000 per month in documented bill savings plus quantified contract-retention value.
Logistics warehouses and cold-chain hubs are among the best solar candidates in Malaysia's commercial-industrial sector. The reasons are structural: a 3PL hub's rooftop typically offers a large, unobstructed, flat or low-pitch expanse with minimal HVAC plant obstruction (reefer compressors are typically ground-mounted, not rooftop) and structural loading capacity designed for heavy snow loads in export markets — well above the 15–20 kg/m² required for panel mounting in Malaysia.
Trexon's survey of this facility identified 16,800 m² of usable rooftop across the main warehouse block, the cold store extension wing, and the dispatch office building — sufficient for a 1.5 MWp system with 20% spare capacity for future Phase 2 expansion. The rooftop's south-southwest orientation and 3-degree pitch (standard industrial shed design) produced a modelled specific yield of 1,380 kWh/kWp/year at P50 confidence — above the Klang Valley average for flat-roof commercial systems due to the facility's open coastal exposure and reduced urban heat island shading.
2,085 × Trina Vertex N 720W Panels
2,085 panels were installed across three roof zones: 1,440 panels on the main warehouse block (Zone 1), 480 panels on the cold store extension wing (Zone 2), and 165 panels on the dispatch office roof (Zone 3). The Trina Vertex N 720W was specified for three reasons: its 720W power class minimises the panel count and racking complexity for a 1.5 MWp system; its N-type TOPCon cell technology provides a lower temperature coefficient (-0.30%/°C versus -0.35%/°C for standard PERC) — advantageous on a sun-exposed metal warehouse roof where panel operating temperatures routinely reach 60–65°C; and its 30-year linear power warranty, which aligns with the 25-year financial model used for the board approval.
15 × Huawei SUN2000-100KTL-M2 String Inverters
15 Huawei SUN2000-100KTL-M2 units (100 kW each, 1,500 kW total AC capacity) were installed in three groupings along the internal walls of the three roof zones, mounted on ventilated steel rack structures within the warehouse ceiling space to avoid outdoor exposure. The SUN2000-100KTL-M2 was selected for its smart IV-curve scanning capability — which allows weekly automatic string-level diagnostics without site visits — and its native FusionSolar integration with the operator's BMS for load scheduling.
FusionSolar SmartLogger 3000A + Reefer Cycling Integration
The most technically significant element of this project was the integration of the FusionSolar SmartLogger 3000A with the cold store's BMS-controlled reefer compressor cycling. The configuration implements two smart load scheduling rules:
Rule 1 — Reefer Pre-Cooling During Solar Peak: Between 09:00 and 14:30 (peak solar generation window), the cold store BMS is instructed via Modbus TCP to run an aggressive pre-cooling cycle, lowering cold store setpoints by 1.0–1.5°C below normal operating temperature. This builds a thermal buffer in the stored goods that allows compressor run-time to be reduced between 16:00 and 20:00 (when solar generation declines but TNB C2 demand charges continue). The pre-cooling cycle uses solar energy that would otherwise partially clip at the inverter AC limit; consuming it within the cold store is more valuable than curtailment.
Rule 2 — Reefer Staggered Restart After Shift Change: The most significant MD reduction mechanism. Previously, when the night-shift team arrived at 22:00 and disabled the "shift-idle" setpoint elevation (a standard practice to reduce energy use during low-traffic periods), all six cold stores simultaneously ramped back to operating temperature, drawing a combined 950 kW burst for 20–40 minutes. The FusionSolar/BMS integration staggers the cold store restart across a 90-minute window in 15-minute increments — reducing the simultaneous restart MD event from 950 kW to approximately 280 kW (single cold store ramp), bringing the monthly MD registration from an average of 2,150 kW to approximately 1,930 kW. At TNB's C2 MD rate of RM 30.00/kW, this 220 kW reduction saves RM 6,600 per month in MD charges alone.
At 1,500 kWp, this system sits above the standard NEM 3.0 capacity threshold for commercial-industrial applications and required a Large Scale Solar (LSS) connection study to be submitted to Suruhanjaya Tenaga. Trexon's regulatory affairs team managed the full application process, including the mandatory Grid Impact Assessment and the TNB Protection Coordination Study for the additional MV circuit. Grid-energisation was achieved in May 2026 — six months from contract signing — consistent with Trexon's published timeline estimate for sub-2 MWp applications in Selangor.
Under ATAP, the operator exports to TNB at the Displaced Cost rate for any instantaneous generation surplus. Given the facility's 1,800+ kW continuous load, net export is rare and limited to Sunday mornings before 08:00 when the skeleton weekend crew generates minimal dispatch activity. Self-consumption over the first four weeks of operation was 96.2%.
Within six weeks of commissioning, the operator's sustainability manager had prepared Scope 3 renewable energy disclosures for all three requesting customers using FusionSolar's monthly generation report exports. The reports provided:
All three customers accepted the FusionSolar reports as qualifying Scope 3 renewable energy documentation under their respective supplier sustainability programmes. The operator's preferred-partner status with all three accounts was confirmed for the 2026–2028 contract cycle — protecting an estimated RM 180 million in annual throughput value.
Generation performance:
Average monthly generation: 170,000 kWh — a specific yield of 1,360 kWh/kWp/year, consistent with the P50 design estimate.
Financial performance:
Average monthly TNB bill reduction: RM 107,800 (two-month average). The reduction comprises energy consumption savings (RM 101,200/month from displaced grid kWh) and MD charge reduction (RM 6,600/month from reefer restart staggering). Projected annual savings: RM 1,293,600. System installed cost: approximately RM 6.97 million. Simple payback: 5.4 years.
Reefer MD reduction:
MD registration in the first two months averaged 1,935 kW — a 215 kW reduction from the pre-solar 12-month average of 2,150 kW. The RM 6,450 per month MD saving will grow as the facility's operations team further refines the restart stagger algorithm through the dry season.
Environmental performance:
The system displaces approximately 2,070 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year — one of the largest single-site CO₂ reductions in this case study series. The figure is now cited in the operator's annual corporate sustainability report, published in June 2026.
Note: Financial figures represent indicative modelling based on Trexon installation data and TNB C2 tariff schedules. Specific client details are anonymised per B2B confidentiality.
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