The market for solar energy is heating up worldwide, with more and more countries joining the Race to Zero, “a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, [and] investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery,” to directly quote the United Nations. This is a concerted, global effort to fight against climate change. Singapore, a small and resource-scarce city-state, is no exception, and the island is now home to one of the world’s largest offshore floating Photovoltaic (PV) farms, a 5 MW-peak project that’s been deployed in the Straits of Johor.

Developed by Sunseap Group, a solar energy solutions provider in Singapore, the five-hectare sea-based solar plant is equivalent in size to five soccer fields.

With 13,312 solar panels, 40 inverters, and more than 30,000 floats, it’s estimated to produce up to 6,022,500 kWh of energy per year, supplying enough power for 1250 four-room public housing flats on the island and offsetting an estimated 4258 tons of carbon dioxide.

Solar PV: A Natural Next Step for Singapore to Tackle Climate Change

In 2021, the Singapore government announced the Singapore Green Plan 2030. This nationwide initiative to advance Singapore’s national agenda on sustainable development followed on from its announcement in 2020 that Singapore will aim to halve its peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vision is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, but this can only be reached if the nation significantly reduces its reliance on fossil fuels. Finding alternative methods to generate electricity is therefore essential, as natural gas is responsible for 97% of electricity generation in Singapore.

Restricted by its small size, Singapore lacks access to natural and renewable energy sources such as wind and hydroelectric power. However, located almost on the equator, Singapore draws a high average annual solar irradiance. Simply put, it gets a lot of sun. As such, one of the key targets under the Green Plan 2030 is to quadruple solar energy deployment to 1.5 GW-peak by 2025, with further plans to reach 2 GW-peak by 2030.

However, for Singapore to achieve such ambitious goals and unlock the true potential of green solar PV, it must turn to state-of-the-art technologies.

Unfavorable Conditions Demand Reinforced Technology

Singapore’s spatial constraints led Sunseap to look offshore, to the open seas, as a viable alternative for renewable energy, ultimately deploying the PV system in coastal waters. In doing so, Sunseap also achieved another milestone: constructing an undersea cable system connecting the floating platform to the mainland, creating a 22 KV electrical distribution network.

Unlike inland water bodies, the open sea is subject to a range of conditions and is prone to change, from fluctuations in temperature and rough swells to the corrosive nature of saltwater. Such unfavorable conditions, combined with the biofouling commonly found in warm tropical waters — where microorganisms, plants, algae, and small animals accumulate on surfaces — can potentially accelerate the degradation of PV system components, such as inverters.

By tapping into its expertise in integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the cloud, Huawei introduces the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into PV equipment to optimize power generation. Sunseap selected Huawei to supply its field-proven smart string inverters — Huawei SUN2000-90KTL-H2 — to make the floating solar farm more efficient, safer, and more reliable.

Frank Phuan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sunseap, remarked: “The Green Plan from the Singapore government is a strong commitment against climate change and the offshore floating 5 MW-peak plant that we have here is just a small step forward on the path to carbon neutrality. I hope, in the future, Sunseap and Huawei will continue to contribute to the clean energy landscape here in Singapore.”