Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on installation and operation of solar panels
Sep 13, 2016
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will consider making it mandatory for commercial and residential buildings to install and operate solar panels on their roofs, with exceptions granted only on a case-by-case basis.
Answer:
Solar energy is one of the renewable energy options that we are adopting. However, there are constraints that limit the deployment.
First, there are competing uses for roof spaces such as rooftop greenery as well as facilities such as water tanks, lift machine rooms and antennas. Second, the cost-effectiveness of rooftop solar panels depends on the location of the building, and the exposure of the rooftop space to sunlight.
Hence, instead of a mandatory requirement, we take a practical approach in scaling up the deployment of solar panels on building rooftops. The public sector takes the lead by aggregating demand for solar deployment across government agencies. With demand aggregation, we plan to increase solar generation capacity to 350 MWp by 2020, with solar panels deployed on around 5,000 HDB blocks and 100 government facilities. In addition, the BCA Green Mark Scheme encourages the adoption of renewable energy sources, including solar power. To date, about 20 MWp of solar panels are due to be installed in Green Mark projects.