Channel NewsAsia 1 Nov 17;
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has called what it says is its largest solar leasing tender to date, it announced in a joint release with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on Wednesday (Nov 1).
This is the third tender to be launched under the SolarNova programme which is jointly led by HDB and the EDB. The first SolarNova tender was awarded in December 2015 and the second was awarded in June this year.
This third tender will aggregate demand for the installation of solar panels across eight governmental agencies, including the Building and Construction Authority, Institute of Technical Education, National Heritage Board and Sport Singapore.
Compared to previous tenders, more HDB blocks have been identified for this tender, said the joint release.
A total of 848 HDB blocks under West Coast and Choa Chu Kang town councils and 27 government sites will be installed with solar panels. The sites include CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School (Primary and Secondary), Dunman Secondary School, CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh), CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), Choa Chu Kang Columbarium and Changi Prison Complex.
Tenderers are also required to optimise the roof space for solar panel installation.
With this tender, solar photovoltaic systems of 50 megawatt-peak (MWp) will be installed - a 25 per cent increase over the previous two SolarNova tenders, which involved the installation of 40 MWp of solar photovoltaic systems each, said the joint release.
The tender will close on Jan 31 next year and is scheduled to be awarded in the second quarter of 2018. The solar photovoltaic systems are expected to be installed by the second quarter of 2020.
HDB is currently the largest stakeholder in solar photovoltaic installation in Singapore, said Dr Cheong Koon Hean, HDB's chief executive officer.
According to Dr Cheong, HDB has committed to fulfil more than 60 per cent of the 350 MWp of solar capacity that Singapore is planning to achieve by 2020.
"To allow government agencies to leverage HDB’s economies of scale, we have aggregated the demand across agencies under the SolarNova programme jointly with EDB," she said.
She added that with the third SolarNova tender, HDB is on track to achieve its goal of rolling out 220MWp of solar panels across 5,500 HDB blocks by 2020.
PANELS TO PROVIDE SECURITY, RESILIENCE FOR SINGAPORE: ANALYST
Mr Arief S Budiman, assistant professor for engineering product development at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, told Channel NewsAsia that HDB’s latest move would have a positive impact on the energy market in Singapore.
“It is not only encouraging on technical accounts, since solar photovoltaic or PV (systems are) now robust and a technically reliable energy source for the energy market in Singapore and also for the long term ... in providing some security and resilience for Singapore, enabling us to provide for our own energy needs.”
Mr Budiman also noted that the solar PV sector in Singapore is maturing and that demand is expected to be strong.
However, he warned that there are other concerns that need to be addressed.
“The effect of degradation of solar PV systems especially in Singapore's tropical climate and high humidity conditions as well as high frequency of rain, which could lead to much more and earlier water-related degradation, especially to the polymer components of solar PV panels,” he said.
Mr Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director of the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University, agreed with Mr Budiman on the challenges going forward.
“The main challenge for Singapore includes the tropical environment where we have rain showers and humidity, which reduces the solar electricity generation timeframe to about 3.2 hours per day. The other challenge is with high rise buildings; to plan it properly to avoid any shading especially in the afternoon hours where the potential to harvest solar electricity is the highest towards the West-facing areas.
“Nonetheless, 50 MWp is a very significant deployment at one go and it’s something that will continue to signal Singapore’s commitment towards hitting our 1 Gigawatt target or even beyond.”
As of October this year, 966 HDB blocks have been installed with solar photovoltaic panels, said HDB in a media factsheet. The solar energy produced is used to "fully power common services" in the HDB estates during the day, including powering lifts and water pumps, said HDB.
Additional reporting by Brandon Tanoto
848 more HDB blocks to be installed with solar panels
AMANDA LEE Today Online 1 Nov 17;
SINGAPORE – Around 850 additional Housing Development Board (HDB) blocks and 27 government sites will be equipped with solar panels by mid-2020.
The HDB and the Singapore Economic Board (EDB) launched its third bulk tender for solar panels on Wednesday (Nov 1). It is the largest tender under the SolarNova programme, which aims to spur growth of Singapore’s solar industry by encouraging government agencies to use solar power.
As of Oct 2017, 966 HDB blocks have been installed with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, contributing almost 45 per cent of Singapore’s total solar installations, and cover an area of about 35,000 square metres or the size of about four football fields.
Solar energy is used to power common services such as powering the flat’s lift and water pumps within the HDB estates during the day. On average, all 966 HDB flats are able to achieve net-zero energy consumption with excess solar energy channelled back to Singapore’s electrical grid.
Commenting on the tender, HDB’s chief executive officer Dr Cheong Koon Hean “HDB’s efforts in building solar capabilities have made steady progress”. He added: “Today, HDB is the largest stakeholder in solar PV installation, having committed to fulfil over 60 percent of the 350 MWp of solar capacity that Singapore has planned to achieve by 2020”.
The first of such tender was put up in June 2015 which included 900 HDB blocks as well as installations at eight MHA and Public Utilities Board (PUB) sites. While the second tender was called in October last year which included 636 HDB blocks and 31 government sites.
Several government agencies such as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Education and National Environment Agency, which participated in earlier tenders, have already been using solar power.
Under this latest tender, another four government agencies will be joining the SolarNova programme. They are: the Building & Construction Authority, Institute of Technical Education, National Heritage Board and Sport Singapore.
The tender also requires PV systems of 50 megawatt-peak (MWp) to be installed. This is a 25 per cent increase from the last two SolarNova tenders, which involved the installation of 40 MWp of solar PV systems each. The tenderers are also required to optimise the roof space for solar panel installation.
The tender closes on Jan 31 2018, and is expected to be awarded in the second quarter of 2018. The installation of solar PV systems is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2020, which is also when solar power is expected to contribute 350MWp to the Republic’s energy supply.
Including this third SolarNova tender, HDB has committed a solar capacity of 190 MWp out of the 220 MWp target for 3,350 HDB blocks, and is on track to deploy solar panels on 5,500 HDB blocks by 2020. According to HDB and EDB, with solar PV capacity of 220MWp, 265GWh of clean energy can be generated annually – this is equivalent to powering about 55,000 4-room flats, with carbon emissions reduced by 132,500 tonnes each year.
