Forum: Make solar panels a must for newly built or purchased landed property
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Solar is Singapore’s most promising source of renewable energy and, as a nation, we must maximise solar deployment to bolster our energy security. HDB has done a good job here; the vast majority of HDB blocks already have solar panels on their rooftops or are slated to have them installed by 2026.
The natural next step is to get the owners of private residential properties on board with solar. Landed properties, in particular, take up a disproportionate amount of space, and have the potential to make an outsized impact on Singapore’s solar capacity. Yet, although there are about 73,000 landed homes here, fewer than 4,000 such dwellings have had solar panels installed as at the second quarter of 2024.
Cities such as Tokyo have recently begun requiring solar panels to be installed on the roofs of new homes. Will Singapore follow suit and mandate the installation of solar panels on all newly built or purchased landed homes? After all, the cost is vanishingly small compared with the capital outlay needed to buy or build the property. Moreover, the owners will be able to recoup their investment in the panels, by selling the excess energy they generate back to the grid.
Lim Jia Yi
