SINGAPORE – Solar panels will be deployed at all feasible JTC buildings and vacant land by 2030, with the statutory board aiming to persuade more privately leased industrial properties to do the same.
The aim is to have all these solar panels – including those deployed at sea – achieve solar capacity of 1,250 megawatt-peak (MWp), or contributing to 60 per cent of Singapore’s total solar deployment target of at least 2 gigawatt-peak (GWp), by 2030.
This target, enough to power about 350,000 households here for a year, is expected to make up 3 per cent of the Republic’s total electricity demand in 2030.
JTC said on Tuesday that privately leased industrial properties make up 72 per cent of total potential solar capacity from industrial estates.
The board aims to quadruple the current capacity of 225.4MWp – enough to power about 63,600 four-room Housing Board flats for one year – to 900MWp by 2030 through outreach efforts to get such companies to adopt its SolarRoof programme.
Almost 400 companies have solar panels installed on their roofs currently.
Under the scheme, solar panels are installed for free and companies can enjoy discounted rates for power generated from solar panels on their roofs. Alternatively, they can earn revenue by leasing their roof space for solar panels to be installed.
Since July 2022, the minimum contract period for this programme has been reduced from 15 years to eight, allowing companies with shorter lease periods to also benefit.
In addition, the board said it is progressively deploying solar panels across all feasible JTC buildings, vacant industrial land and at sea to bump its current solar capacity of 135.6MWp up to about 350MWp by 2030.
Since the launch of JTC’s programme in 2017, solar panels have been installed at more than 60 buildings across its estates and 70ha of temporary vacant land to achieve the current capacity.
The board aims to increase the solar capacity of Jurong Island from 12.3MWp to 103.2MWp, making it the industrial estate with the largest solar deployment here.
JTC SolarLand at the Changi Business Park is the largest ground-mounted solar farm here, with over 35,500 panels deployed over 11.6ha in November 2021.
“JTC has ramped up our solar programme significantly since 2017,” its chief sustainability officer, Mr Tan Chee Kiat, said.
“While solar deployment is relatively limited today, we see more companies appreciating the benefits of solar (panel) installation.
“The ongoing outreach efforts play an important role in encouraging solar deployment in industrial estates to achieve our target.”
