Floating solar as key to solving Singapore’s challenges

Over the years, there have been many exciting floating solar projects and ideas around the world, but Singapore may be the first country to implement a floating solar farm.

Singapore has a unique location and circumstances that make it an excellent candidate for the speedy implementation of floating solar projects. This country has an extremely dense population (No. 2 in the world) with a limited amount of land and even roofing spaces, but has good water resources, which can accommodate a number of solar arrays.



The National Water Agency of Singapore and the Public Utilities Council are planning a floating solar energy system (also known as a solar farm). The solar farm will be built at the Tenge Reservoir and will complement the roofing-type solar energy system at the Choa Chu Kang Water Pipeline Station, which the Utilities Council also plans to install. Both solar power projects are projected to provide electricity to around 1,000 local households.

Construction of the project is expected to begin this month. This solar energy project was actually approved in 2011, however, only now the winner of the tender has appeared. It’s not entirely clear what caused the delay, but the dramatic drop in the cost of solar panels over the past few years has certainly helped make such a project much more affordable and competitive.

Chart of the fall in the cost of solar energy

If you’re wondering what environmental impact floating solar panels can have on the nature of the Tenge Reservoir, the project’s designers report various positive side effects. For example, floating panels will help reduce losses from water evaporation and are expected to slow algae growth.

But one of the most important advantages of this project is the fact that it will not require the use of Singapore’s very limited and very expensive land resources. There are several places in the world where the additional costs associated with the arrangement of floating solar farms are adequate compared to the costs of renting land, roofs or parking canopies and Singapore is clearly on the list of these countries.

Source: aenergy.ru