New Sembcorp solar farm can power 4,700 4-room HDB flats 

SPANNING close to 10 hectares of temporary vacant land with over 33,500 solar panels installed, a new solar farm at Tuas industrial estate can power about 4,700 4-room Housing Board (HDB) flats a year. Developed by Sembcorp Solar Singapore, a subsidiary of energy and urban development company Sembcorp Industries, the Tuas solar farm is built across 2 sites and has a combined solar capacity of 17.6 megawatts-peak (MWp). The system is expected to produce about 22,025 MW hours of power annually, which is exported to Singapore's national power grid. This will help to avoid approximately 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, which is equivalent to planting almost 150,000 trees. This is Sembcorp's first solar farm mounted from the ground. It has 2,700 sites in total, including a floating solar farm at Tengeh Reservoir, as well as other solar panels installed at the top of commercial building and public housing flats. According to Sembcorp, this solar farm is the first in the city-state to be developed with an integrated rainwater harvesting system. A tray to collect rainwater is installed at the bottom of the solar panels, which are tilted at between 6 and 10 degrees. The rainwater then flows into an underground water storage tank, where it is eventually treated to be free from odour and contaminants. While the plan for the use of the treated rainwater is mainly for the cleaning and maintenance of the solar panels, Jen Tan, head of integrated solutions and renewables at Sembcorp, said they are also looking to see whether it's possible to sell them to neighbouring industrial factories. The rainwater harvesting system can treat up to 170,000 cubic metres of rainwater annually, equivalent to the amount required to fill 68 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Speaking at the solar farm's opening ceremony on Friday (May 6), Koh Chiap Khiong, chief executive for Singapore and South-east Asia at Sembcorp Industries, called this a circular economy model that helps to conserve one of Singapore's most vital resources. The solar farm is also designed to be mobile, as the solar panels, transformer and substations can be redeployed when the land is needed for other uses. Tan said the agreement with JTC was that they would have to dismantle the farm and set it up at a new site in 6 months. This solar farm is part of the third phase of JTC's SolarLand programme, where the agency works with businesses to install solar panels on industrial land that is vacant temporarily. Sembcorp Solar Singapore was awarded 1 of the 2 contracts under a SolarLand programme tender in February 2020. Also present at the solar farm's opening ceremony, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said that JTC's solar programmes support the government's aim of achieving its solar deployment target of at least 1.5 gigawatt-peak (GWp) by 2025 and 2 GWp by 2030. "Without upfront capital costs, solar adoption is now easier and more accessible for businesses. Lessees can also tap on renewable energy from JTC’s SolarLand to meet their renewable energy targets," she said. "In addition, these panels generate solar power that is subsequently exported to the national grid – supporting our transition towards a greener energy mix."

Along with JTC's SolarRoof programme, both initiatives are expected to generate an estimated 82 MWp of solar energy capacity over the next 2 years – enough to power about 20,000 4-room HDB flats a year.