On 9 July energy, marine and urban development group, Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) announced a partnership with leading real estate firm, CapitaLand Group (CapitaLand), for the installation and operation of rooftop solar farms at six properties in Singapore owned by CapitaLand. As part of the partnership, Sembcorp will install, own and operate rooftop solar panels with a combined capacity of approximately 8.1 megawatt-peak, atop CapitaLand buildings located in the Changi, Senoko, Penjuru and Ang Mo Kio districts. The properties are held under CapitaLand’s business space and industrial real estate investment trust (Reit), Ascendas Reit.
More than 21,000 solar panels will be installed, providing renewable energy and lowering CapitaLand’s carbon footprint, by 4.3 million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions a year. Any surplus solar power generated will be channeled to the grid. When completed, CapitaLand will house Singapore’s largest combined rooftop solar farm by a real estate company.
Upon full installation of the solar energy system at the end of this year, it is expected to produce over 10,200 megawatt hours of power annually.
During June, Singapore-based Sunseap, a leading Southeast Asian renewable energy firm, has secured a SGD 43 million green loan from United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) to increase the use of solar power in Singapore. The loan will be used to fund the installation of a series of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on the rooftops of 210 sites, ranging from commercial and industrial to government premises, with a total solar capacity of 37 megawatt-peak.
Singapore had total installed solar capacity of 114.8 MWac as of 1Q18. There were 2,155 solar PV installations with town councils & grassroots units accounting for 46.4% (or 999 installations) of total installations, followed by the residential (34.1% or 734 installations) and private sectors (14.6% or 315 installations). Public service agencies constituted the remaining 5.0% (or 107 installations) of total installations.
(Sources: Sembcorp; Sunseap; Energy Market Authority of Singapore)
