CHANGI Airport will plug into solar power to meet some of the Budget Terminal's electricity needs starting from next month.

The local arm of Germany-based Phoenix Solar beat 18 contenders to bag the $1.6 million contract to build photovoltaic (PV) panels on the terminal's rooftop. They will capture sunlight during the day, which will be converted into usable electricity.

When completed in the middle of next year, the project will cover an area of about 2,500 sq m - the size of nine tennis courts. The panels should generate in excess of 280,000 kilowatt-hours a year, a Phoenix Solar spokesman in Germany told The Straits Times. That is enough to power more than 40 five-room flats for a year.

Read the full report in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.