Are Singaporeans ready for solar power?

Uh, so, OK, so that's a lot of power. Actually, when you think about it, this update is actually a very important one. Solar energy is being identified as one of Singapore's four key switches to achieve its net zero target by 2015, 250, OK. We're not going all in on solar, so it's not going to be the main thing that it's one of four, diversify, diversify, diversify, right? That's the key to success. Professor Lee Po Seng is

on the show, executive director, Energy Studies Institute, NUS. Professor Lee, hello. Hi, thanks for having me. Where are we in terms of, I mean, 2050 is not that far away when you think about it. Are we ready for solar power to to make this line in the sand today to draw it like Minister Teo has done and say that we're on track to get there? Yeah, I think Singapore has actually made good progress in

solar deployment. So as you pointed out earlier, by the end of 2024, the nation had deployed 1.5 gigawatt peak of solar energy, surpassing. The initial 2025 target ahead of schedule. So this milestones reflects the effectiveness of strategic planning, government incentives, and public-private collaboration in advancing renewable energy adoptions.

So the country is on track to meet its 2030 target of at least 2 gigawatt peak, which is projected to supply around 3% of electricity demand and power approximately 350,000 households annually. So while this is an important A step towards sustainability, it underscores the reality that solar alone cannot be the dominant energy source due to land constraints and intermittency. So the next phase of Singapore energy

transition will focus on reintegration, energy storage, and clean electricity imports. Yeah, it's so important that we diversify like what Daniel was saying and It's important that we look at nuclear energy, we look at hydroenergy that's, that's coming from uh overseas, from uh other Southeast Asian countries as well. But isn't it good that we're finding more geothermal energy spots here in Singapore? You would have heard the news that they found another geothermal energy source in Yishun.

So maybe if we use that, I'm not sure how much of power that could generate, but it's a good thing as well because then we could be looking at cleaner, greener energy right here in Singapore and maybe we can finally change the image of Yishun. What do you think? Probably I think certainly the nothing is actually off the table, right, but Singapore is actually

a very new renewable energy challenge city states. So we will need to constantly look for new sources of energy, including the death of Joe Turner, and if you refer to the recent budget announcement, there's also going to be a more Comprehensive studies on the feasibilities of nuclear power, right? So I think it will be an ongoing exercise to actually

evaluate different solutions as the technology matures. So I'm actually very hopeful that in time to come, we will be able to embrace newer forms of energy, right, to complement our energy mix. What are we talking about in terms of what will practically benefit the most from solar power? Are they gonna, are we gonna channel it to certain sectors, certain areas of Singaporean life that will really benefit because I think the first touch.

For a lot of Singaporeans with this rollout of solar power, when all those panels appear on top of the HDB blocks, right? We've got all that land surface area on top of the HDB blocks, very well used. We also have a lot of cloud cover in Singapore, unfortunately, um, so you know, how's it going to benefit Singapore life? Mm. So solar

energy is being integrated into multiple sectors. I think just now you already point out right for as part of public infrastructure, right, especially the solar Nova program. Uh, has rolled out solar panels across HDB estates, schools and government buildings, and we are also seeing floating solar farms, right? So Singapore has deployed large scale firm. Solar farms, such as the 60 megawatt peak installation at the Tengga Reservoir. Then there's also the commercial and industrial, right?

For example, companies like Capo, Sancorp, and Sunset have adopted rooftop solar for energy cost savings. Then there's also the aspect on smart grids and EV charging, right? Solar energy is now being integrated into the microgrid systems and the EV charging networks. So that a variety of applications that can take advantage of the green electrons coming from solar power. Can big industries also harness solar energy or are we focusing more on these households, the Singapore households?

I think it just spans across both the the bigger energy guzzler, right, for example, the commercial, the buildings, the industrial building, as well as the residential, but I think what we should be mindful is actually if you look at some of the the commercial or industrial applications, right, because of the higher energy intensity, just relying On solar alone won't be able to satisfy the entire

energy demand, right, just to use example, right? So if you are thinking of having on-site solar power to supply to data centers, right, that would be not sufficient, right, because we are now talking about, for example, racks going up to 140 kilowatt. In time to come 500 kilowatt or even 1 megawatt. So the energy intensity or the energy demand is actually

very intense. So just solar alone won't be able to set such energy intensive application, but if it's actually more residential, then yes, especially for, for example, the the landed properties, I think solar will then be able to satisfy at least to a large degree the demand. What are the costs of rolling this out on a larger scale, like I said, We do have the cloud cover to contend with. We have the rainy seasons to contend with and solar panels,

I mean, they're getting cheaper though, right? The solar panels from China are getting cheaper though la. Yes, certainly. So the cost actually comes from a number of aspects. First, as you point out, installation costs, right, especially in our very dense urban environment, right, due to the limited space, as well as the engine constraints. So

the cost of installation will be actually higher. The second is actually the grid connection and the infrastructure, right, so it actually requires like transformers, smart inverters. An energy management system for stability. So again, this will be another cost element. Then there's operations and maintenance, right, because of our humid climate that accelerates the panel, the degradation, necessitating frequent cleaning and maintenance. So there's also an operation

and maintaining cost. Then to address the intermittency, right, there may be a need to also integrate energy storage system. So all this actually adds To the total cost of deploying solar in our urban context. Right.

So when you look at maybe a housing estate and it wants to deploy a lot of these uh photovoltaicic type solar panels, that means we've got to have storage facilities, we need to have transformer, uh, facilities, units all within that area so that it can quickly harness the energy, save the energy, and then distribute the energy. For the context of high-rise residential estates, right, because most

of these solar installation will be on the rooftop. So, as you can imagine, right, so the footprint is actually limited. In fact, I think the most, if not all of the solar energy that is generated will We actually used to supply the common areas, for example, the lighting, potentially the leaves, right. So I think that pretty much actually consumes the most of the on-site generation of solar power. So the needs for, for example, on-site, the energy storage system in this particular use case is

actually the, the lesser, right? But if you are actually looking at other application whereby the on-site demand or consumption. of solar energy is actually not as high, then suddenly you need to look at either feeding the solar energy into the grid, right, or you have to then to cater for the energy storage system to actually store the excess energy that is generated and actually use it, for example,

at night. Right, right. Are we also looking at still getting a lot of solar power coming from Australia because there was talk that we could be putting these underwater caves.