Under this tender, vendors “will be required to install smart electrical sub-meters at HDB blocks to track energy usage”.
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has called its sixth tender for the installation of solar panels across 57 government sites and 1,198 HDB blocks managed by the Sembawang, Tampines and Tanjong Pagar Town Councils.
The government sites include 40 schools, the Kallang and Jurong fire stations, as well as the Tuas South Desalination Plant.
To meet the demand of 70 megawatt-peak (MWp), the latest tender comes under the SolarNova programme, in which harnessed solar energy is first used to power common services within HDB estates in the day. The excess energy is channelled to the electrical grid.
“On average, HDB blocks are able to achieve net-zero energy consumption at common areas,” noted HDB.
Under this tender, vendors “will be required to install smart electrical sub-meters at HDB blocks to track energy usage”.
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The meters will enable the town councils and HDB to track energy consumption patterns as well as the performance of common services within each block.
The data collected will help the town councils and HDB “to optimise maintenance cycles of common services, as well as detecting anomalies such as equipment fault”.
Including this latest tender, HDB has committed a total solar capacity of 330 MWp for 6,901 HDB blocks, which is equivalent to powering 82,500 four-room flats with solar energy and potentially reducing annual carbon emissions by 198,000 tonnes.
In 2019, HDB unveiled a new solar target of 540 MWp by 2030.
The new target could generate 648 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of green energy per year, “contributing towards the national solar targets of 1.5 gigawatt-peak (GWp) by 2025, and 2 GWp by 2030 as set out under the Singapore Green Plan”. said HDB.
The sixth solar leasing tender closes on 7 May and is targeted to be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile, HDB also revealed that the fifth solar tender was awarded to Sembcorp Solar Singapore.
“Under the tender, installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at 1,154 HDB blocks and 46 government sites is expected to begin in Q1 2021 and complete by Q3 2023, with a solar PV capacity of 60 MWp to be reaped islandwide,” said HDB.
As of December 2020, around 2,470 HDB blocks have been installed with solar panels, while installation at another 2,080 HDB blocks is in progress or will commence soon.
“As the largest driver for installation of solar PV systems in Singapore, HDB remains committed to supporting Singapore’s efforts to accelerate its usage of green energy. To this end, HDB will intensify its efforts to deploy higher efficiency solar panels, install solar panels on more HDB rooftops, and catalyse the public sector’s adoption of solar energy in the coming years,” said HDB.
Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this story, email: victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
