300 HDB blocks will have solar panels by 2015
More HDB blocks are being fitted with solar panels and the number will grow from the current 176 to 300 blocks by the end of next year, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post. Aside from powering common services such as lifts and corridor lighting, the solar panels provide households with access to clean energy and help town councils offset rising energy costs. In Singapore, HDB is the biggest installer of solar panels, and it plans to help other government agencies harness this energy. These agencies ride on HDBs bulk tenders for solar panels, and enjoy lower costs due to economies of scale. This way we accelerate solar deployment in Singapore through aggregating solar demand across government agencies, said Mr Khaw. Meanwhile, the first demand aggregation tender will be called next year and MINDEF has expressed interest to install solar panels on the rooftops of army camps, while MOE is looking into doing the same for schools. Moving forward, Singapore plans to raise solar energy usage to 350MWp by 2020, and this will include some 5,500 HDB blocks. This could generate enough electricity to power a town the size of Woodlands. Image: Solar panels on HDB rooftops. (Source: Sunseap Enterprise) Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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