KENNETH CHENG Today Online 17 Jan 18;
SINGAPORE — Two years after scoring a landmark deal with tech giant Apple to power its facilities here with renewable energy, solar-energy solutions company Sunseap Group has landed a major pact with port operator PSA to cut its carbon footprint.
Under the 21-year deal, Sunseap will build and install a four-megawatt peak (MWp) solar system — the size of four football fields — across five locations in PSA’s Pasir Panjang Terminal.
These include the terminal’s buildings, gates, maintenance base and workers’ dormitories, the two companies announced in a press statement on Wednesday (Jan 17).
The Singapore-based firm will also maintain the system, known as a solar photovoltaic system, and offer a competitive electricity tariff rate. The two firms expect the system to be up and running by end-October this year.
A Sunseap spokesperson declined to disclose the value of the project but said it was one of the largest projects in its portfolio.
The system will help the port operator reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions by 1,689 tonnes a year.
The system will generate roughly 4.3 gigawatt hours of energy a year and offset part of Pasir Panjang Terminal’s energy needs, the two firms added. This is comparable to the energy consumed by about 900 households living in four-room Housing and Development Board flats in a year.
PSA’s other green initiatives include electrification of its port equipment such as yard cranes and automated guided vehicles, said Mr Ong Kim Pong, PSA International’s regional chief executive for South-east Asia.
In February last year, the Government announced it would impose a carbon tax on large greenhouse-gas emitters from next year.
It is looking to charge between S$10 and S$20 per tonne of greenhouse gas emitted. Six greenhouse gases will be covered under the tax: Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.
Under the draft Carbon Pricing Bill, the emitters will buy carbon credits at a fixed price from the National Environment Agency throughout a year. At the end of a year of assessment, the credits will be used to pay the tax levied on their total greenhouse emissions.
