Singaporean water utility in push for 50MW-plus floating PV

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
PUB's floating solar move comes after the utility had institute SERIS test the technology on Tengeh (Credit: SERIS)

Singapore could host in two years one of the largest floating PV plants seen worldwide under plans unveiled this week by a national water utility.

Government-owned PUB will launch this Friday a request for proposals for private players to design, build, own and operate a 50MW plant on the Tengeh Reservoir, in western Singapore. 

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Announced after World Environment Day, the scheme is scheduled for completion in 2021. The final installation, the size of 45 football pitches, will power PUB’s water treatment plants.

According to the water utility, the system represents 28,000 tonnes in annual CO2 savings and is set to outperform conventional rooftop PV counterparts by 5-15%.  

The flagship 50MW project will, PUB explained, be joined by an additional, smaller two arrays on the Bedok and Lower Seletar reservoirs, further to Singapore’s east.

At 1.5MW each, the duo should wrap up construction early next year after tender contracts are awarded in Q3 2019, the utility added.

The 50MW scheme is being billed as the first large-scale floating PV project in Singapore. The Asian city-state is home to research institute SERIS, which is already testing the emerging technology for PUB at the Tengeh Reservoir.

Beyond Singapore, the floating sector continues adding milestones as it grows from the 1.1GW market size recorded last year.

So far in 2019, schemes have marked progress in China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Cambodia, South Africa, Malawi, the Seychelles, California, Portugal, Albania and the Netherlands, among others.

Read Next

June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
June 27, 2025
Statkraft has signed PPAs with Better Energy to purchase energy from two solar power plants in Poland with a total capacity of 64GWh.
June 27, 2025
Solar developer Lightsource bp has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a subsidiary of Taiwanese energy firm HD Renewable Energy (HDRE).
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
Researchers at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) have claimed a record 26.4% conversion efficiency in a perovskite-organic tandem cell.
Premium
June 26, 2025
Carlos Rodriguez, Oktoviano Gandhi and Sun Huixuan examine the energy yield performance of different FPV system configurations.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico