50 MWp floating solar plant will generate green energy for water treatment.
National water agency PUB intends to deploy a 50 megawatt-peak (MWp) floating solar photovoltaic (PV) system on Tengeh Reservoir by 2021. When installed, it will beSingapore’s first single large-scale floating solar PV system.
PUB is also in the process of implementing two other smaller 1.5MWp floating solar PV systems on Bedok and Lower Seletar reservoirs. The construction tender for these two projects has closed and will be awarded in the third quarter of this year. The systems should be in place by early 2020.
PUB is actively implementing the deployment of solar PV systems on the roofs of our water infrastructure, and also on our reservoirs, in order to generate renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint. Currently, we already have rooftop systems installed at Choa Chu Kang Waterworks, Bedok Waterworks, PUB WaterHub, Tuas Desalination Plant, and the Changi Water Reclamation Plant. When the floating systems on Bedok, Lower Seletar and Tengeh reservoirs are completed, PUB will have a total solar capacity of some 57MWp. This is significant and will give us enough solar energy to power the equivalent of 15,500 4-room HDB flats for a whole year. Solar panels on the roof of Tuas Water Reclamation Plant, when it is finished in 2025, will add another 5MWp to this.
On 7 June 2019, PUB will launch a Request for Proposal (RFP) to invite private sector companies to design, build, own and operate, for 25 years, the floating solar PV system on Tengeh Reservoir. This was announced today by Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, at the opening ceremony of the Ecosperity Conference 2019.
The 50MWp Tengeh floating solar PV system will be one of the largest single floating solar PV systems in the world when it is completed. It will generate green energy to power water treatment and is expected to offset 7% of PUB’s current energy needs, reducing our carbon footprint at the same time. Because solar energy does not involve the burning of fossil fuels, the floating Tengeh system will eliminate the need to emit 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year that it is in operation. This is equivalent to removing 6,000 cars off our roads.
Source: PUB Press Releases
