Giant Floating Solar Farm Unveiled in Singapore

Chen Lin
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Singapore unveiled on Wednesday one of the world's largest floating solar panel farms, spanning an area equivalent to 45 football fields and producing enough electricity to power the island's five water treatment plants.

The project is part of efforts by the land-scarce Southeast Asian city-state to meet a goal of quadrupling its solar energy production by 2025 to help tackle climate change.

Located on a reservoir in western Singapore, the 60 megawatt-peak solar photovoltaic (PV) farm has been built by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries.

The solar farm could help to reduce carbon emissions by about 32 kilotonnes annually, comparable to taking 7,000 cars off the roads, according to a joint statement by the company and Singapore's national water agency PUB.

As opposed to conventional rooftop solar panels, floating ones perform between 5% to 15% better because of the cooling effect of the water, and are not impacted by shading from other buildings, according to a presentation on the project.

The electricity generated from the 122,000 solar panels on the 45-hectare (111.2 acres) site should make Singapore one of the few countries in the world to have a water treatment system fully powered by sustainable energy.

To allay concerns about the environmental impact of such projects, PUB said an assessment was conducted before installing the solar panels to ensure there was no significant impact on wildlife or to water quality.

"It was carefully designed to improve airflow and allow sunlight passing through the water (to reach aquatic life)," said Jen Tan, a regional head at Sembcorp Industries.

The solar panels are designed to last for 25 years and drones will be used to assist with maintenance.

Currently, there are four other floating solar panel projects underway in Singapore.

 (Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore Editing by Ed Davies and Karishma Singh)

Categories: Energy Industry News Activity Asia Solar

Related Stories

ADNOC Signs Long-Term LNG Deal with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Sapura Energy Rebrands to Vantris Energy

BP, ONGC, Reliance Industries Ink Deal for Offshore Exploration in India

PTTEP Buys Chevron's Hess Unit Share of Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block for $450M

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

KBR-SOCAR Joint Venture Secures Work for BP in Azerbaijan

Woodside Finds South Korean Partners to Advance LNG Value Chain

Valeura Makes Progress with Multi-Well Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

Current News

EnQuest Enters Indonesia with Operatorship PSCs for Two Exploration Blocks

PXGEO Nets First Seismic Survey off Malaysia

SPE Offshore Europe 2025 set to drive transformational change for the energy sector

Shipbuilder Delivers Fast Crew Boat Pair to Aesen

Norwegian Oil Investment Will Peak in '25

Saipem Marks First Steel Cut for Tangguh UCC Project at Karimun Yard

Saipem Wins FEED Contract For Abadi LNG Project FPSO Module In Indonesia

Cheniere, JERA Ink Long-Term LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement

Shelf Drilling Lands New Jack-Up Contract in Vietnam, Extends Egypt Deal

Seatrium Engages Axess Group to Clear FPSOs for Brazil Deployment

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com