The New Paper 31 Dec 08;
With the opening of Ngee Ann Polytechnic's solar technology centre last month, Singapore is taking another step towards adopting solar technology on a wide scale.
Infographics journalists CEL GULAPA and FADZIL HAMZAH and reporter TEH JEN LEE show you what a sun-powered city of the future will look like.
GIVEN the reality of global warming, it is a good thing that the sun's plentiful energy can be harnessed in a variety of ways.
Solar energy can power anything from personal products like cars and phones to community infrastructure like signboards and traffic lights. As the supply of fossil fuels falls in the coming years, we will see the switch to renewable forms of energy.
Sunny Singapore would be the ideal place for solar power to take off in a big way.
But what type of solar technology works best in the tropics, where high temperatures and humidity would cause solar cells to degrade more quickly than in temperate regions?
Ngee Ann Polytechnic's new million-dollar solar technology centre, which opened on 12 Nov, aims to shed some light on this.
The centre, on the school's Clementi Road campus, is part of the Economic Development Board's $17 million Clean Energy Research and Testbedding programme.
About 100 solar panels of various types and sizes are being tested there to evaluate their efficiency under different weather conditions such as rain, wind and cloud cover.
'For example, wind blowing across a solar panel can cool down its surface, affecting how much solar energy it produces. Cost efficiency will also be considered as a factor,' said the director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic's school of engineering, Mr Koh Wee Hiong.
He explained that solar power can be used in two ways - the first is with the grid-tie system in which the sun's energy supplements the electricity in the national power grid.
Fuel for planes?
Then there are stand-alone systems which function independently. The simplest example is that of a solar-powered calculator. Stand-alone systems can be used in remote locations, and even power cars and planes.
One of the centre's projects involves the study of thin-film solar cells in Singapore's climate. Thin-film cells are cheap but have not been found to be very efficient.
In all, five types of solar panels are being tested. Among them are building-integrated photovoltaic cells in the form of roofing material or glass walls.
While the panels are being tested, whatever electricity they generate is used to power the centre (about 20 per cent of its energy needs can come from solar power) or fed back to the national grid.
They can contribute up to 50 kilowatt-hours-a-day, enough to power a household air-conditioner for two days.
The centre will also showcase projects by students in the engineering school's new full-time diploma course in clean energy management.
The class, which will have a first intake of 40 students, is among six new courses the polytechnic is offering from next year.
The diploma students will get a chance to spend a semester in a German university to join an international team in building the world's best solar car.
The team's car will take part in the biennial World Solar Challenge in Australia, where competitors race their solar vehicles over a 3,000km route from Darwin to Adelaide.
