summary Response (Final Draft)

The World Economic Forum article on “Singapore’s huge floating panels to power its water treatment plants” informs readers about a floating solar panel project Singapore adopted to reach its goals of multiplying its solar energy production to address climate change. According to the article, Singapore has one of the world’s largest floating solar plants which has an area about the same size as 45 football fields and able to generate enough electricity to power up the island’s five water treatment plants (Lin, 2019). “The project is part of efforts by the land-scarce Southeast Asian city-state to meet a goal of quadrupling its solar energy production by 2025 to help tackle climate change.” (Lin, 2019). The 60 megawatt-peak solar photovoltaic floating solar farm is in the western side of Singapore and built by a subsidiary of Sembcorp industries. The farm can reduce the carbon emissions by about 32 kilotons every year and this is like taking off 7000 cars off the road, according to a joint statement by Sembcorp and Singapore’s national water agency PUB (2019). When compared with conventional rooftop solar panels which are more commonly seen, the floating ones perform between 5% to 15% better because of the cooling effect of the water and they are not affected by shades from infrastructures (Lin, 2019). The electricity generated from the farm allowed Singapore to be one of the few countries in the world to have a water treatment system fully powered by sustainable energy (Lin, 2019). PUB states that there were assessments being conducted before the installation of such projects to ensure that there was no significant impact on wildlife or on water quality. “It was carefully designed to improve airflow and allow sunlight passing through the water to reach aquatic life,” said Jen Tan, regional head of Sembcorp industries. Due to constricted land spaces in Singapore, the usage of floating solar panels to make use of the water bodies around Singapore will make more sense as compared to terrestrial ones as they have higher efficiency and takes up lesser space. 

One of the main reasons to choose floating solar panels over terrestrial ones is that floating solar panels have higher efficiency than its sibling. The concept of floating solar panels did not emerge until late 2000s when it was quickly adopted (Tin, 2022). In 2021, floating Solars across the globe can generate about 1600 MW of electricity, with an estimate that the numbers will reach 4800 MW by 2026, with a compounded annual growth rate of 33.7%. Floating Solars are up to 15% more efficient than terrestrial solar, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, due to the cooling effect of the water. Solar panels are just like any other electrical equipment and works best when operated under cooler conditions. Most of us thinks that the hotter the weather due to the hot sun, the more electricity the solar panels will produce. However, that is not true. One of the main factors affecting power generation from solar is the temperature (Greentumble, 2022). The temperature will not affect the amount of sunlight a solar cell receives but it does affect the power it produces. Solar cells are made of semiconductor materials like crystalline silicon and these materials are sensitive to temperature changes. Temperatures that are too high will reduce the open circuit voltage of solar cells and their power output, while colder temperatures increase the voltage of solar cells (Greentumble, 2022). Manufacturer standards reports that the peak of the optimum temperature range of photovoltaic solar panels is around 25 degrees Celsius. The cells can absorb sunlight with maximum efficiency and perform the most efficiently. Sunlight or heat energy causes electrons to vibrate more and break free from their bonds and these free electrons participate in conduction (Greentumble, 2022). However, power produced by solar cells is determined by the energy difference between the electrons and increased temperatures increases the energy of bound electrons and energy to achieve the exited state is smaller, resulting in reduced power output and efficiency of solar panels (Greentumble, 2022).  

Another advantage of the floating Solars is that it does not take up space on land and instead on top of water bodies. This is especially important especially for countries like Singapore whereby land is scarce. The land can then be used for other purposes like new housing developments or other forms of construction. Ever since 2011, water catchment areas in Singapore have increased from half to two-thirds of the land surface after the construction of the Marina, Punggol, and Serangoon reservoirs and currently we have 17 reservoirs (PUB, n.d.). Instead of building terrestrial solar panels and taking up space on land, floating Solars that make use of water bodies can be implemented instead. A floating solar panel plant is made up of the solar module, anti-rust material, vertical and horizontal frames, buoyancy body, inspection footrest, and module mount assembly. The solar module is highly humidity resistant, dustproof, lead-free, and well protected from the water conditions (Ash, n.d.). The buoyancy is made from polyethylene that can hold 2.5 times the weight (Ash, n.d.) The floating structure is made from magnesium alloy coating, which is highly resistant to corrosion (Ash, n.d.). All these features of floating solar panels allow it to survive on water for a prolonged time.  

However, floating Solars does not come with benefits only. The floating solar panel system itself has the potential to harm aquatic life (Almerini, 2022). Poor knowledge of installation of the floating Solars can result in poor positioning resulting in sunlight being blocked from reaching certain areas of the water. The cables and the overall system itself pose as a threat to aquatic life as well as some animals may be confused by it and the systems also take up space in their habitat (Almerini, 2022). The potential environmental impact on aquatic life might be the largest issue about installation of such systems. To tackle such a problem, the system can be installed on man-made reservoirs and lakes where there is little to no aquatic life. Such reservoirs and lakes are also quite common in Singapore.  

In conclusion, it is safe to say that the usage of floating solar panels in Singapore seems to be the better choice given the number of benefits it provides. As Singapore takes on rapid developments, more land spaces are being used up leaving lesser areas for installation of solar energy projects on land. By making use of water bodies around Singapore itself, not only can we produce sustainable energy, but we can also conserve space as well.  

 

 References 

Almerini, A. (2022, Dec 5). What are floating solar panels? Solar Reviews. https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-are-floating-solar-panels 

Ash, A. (n.d.). Floating Solar Panels. Dynamic Slr. https://www.dynamicslr.com/floating-solar-panels/#:~:text=Solar%20panels%20are%20affixed%20on,friendly%20method%20of%20producing%20electricity. 

Greentumble. (2022, Feb 17). How Hot Do Solar Panels Get? Effect of Temperature on PV Panel Efficiency. https://greentumble.com/effect-of-temperature-on-solar-panel-efficiency/ 

Lin, Chen. (2021, Jul 14). Singapore's huge floating solar panels to power its water treatment plants. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/singapore-floating-solar-panel-project-to-power-water-system/ 

PUB. (n.d.). Water from Local Catchment. https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/fournationaltaps/localcatchmentwater#:~:text=Through%20a%20network%20of%20rivers,channelled%20to%20our%2017%20reservoirs. 

Tin, L.W. (2022, Jun 15). Could Floating Solar Panels Be the New Norm? Earth.org. https://earth.org/floating-solar-panels/#:~:text=Floating%20solar%20can%20be%20up,more%20efficiently%20when%20kept%20cold.