SINGAPORE IS TURNING TO FLOATING SOLAR PANELS TO MEET ITS GREEN TARGETS

It may be one of the world’s smallest countries, but the island-state of Singapore has a big emissions problem.

In fact the nation is one of the biggest carbon dioxide emitters per capita, and the densely populated nature of the city makes it hard to find the necessary space for green initiatives.

So Singapore has turned to the water to house the solar panels needed to generate more renewable energy. Among the plans is the biggest solar farm in Southeast Asia, covering an area the size of 45 football pitches with more than 122,000 solar panels.

At the moment, however, one of the newest solar farms to be built is in the Johor Strait which separates Singapore from Malaysia. Around 13,000 panels have been anchored to the seabed with the capacity to produce five megawatts of electricity – which should power 1,400 apartments a year on average.

Singapore is undergoing somewhat of a transformation when it comes to sustainability. Despite being a city renowned for its unique urban biophilia, there’s still a long way to go when it comes to green energy.

But the government released plans last month to increase solar energy use four-fold, to generate at least two per cent of the country’s power needs by 2025, increasing to three per cent by the end of the decade. This would be enough for approximately 350,000 households a year.

Source : euronews