Singapore: JTC awards contract under new solar leasing model

Singapore: JTC awards contract under new solar leasing model

In a move aimed at encouraging more building owners to install rooftop solar
panels, JTC yesterday awarded a contract that will allow the solar energy
generated at 27 of its buildings to be fully exported to the national power
grid.

The new solar leasing model offers greater flexibility to building owners,
who can make money from unused space on their rooftops even if the occupants
of the properties do not tap the renewable resource. This is a departure
from existing leasing models in Singapore, which may be more suited for
building owners that want to generate solar energy for their own use, said
industrial landlord JTC.

Under the existing models, excess solar power may be channelled to the grid.
Under the 15-year contract with clean energy firm Sun Electric, worth about
S$2.7 million, JTC will charge the firm monthly rentals for rooftop spaces
that are pegged to market prices of electricity.

Sun Electric will supply, install and maintain the solar panels, which will
generate up to 5 megawatt-peak (MWp) of electricity and be ready within a
year. It will own all the power generated by the solar panels, which will
occupy 43,000 sqm, about the size of six football fields.

The occupants of JTC's 27 buildings involved - which include those in
Biopolis and JTC's Launch Pad@one-north - may continue buying electricity
from their existing suppliers.

The power from solar panels can be sold by Sun Electric to larger users
elsewhere, such as businesses that want to adopt clean energy but whose
buildings do not have roof space.

Under the contract, JTC may include more of its properties, such as the
future JTC FoodHub @ Senoko for solar-panel installation. JTC may also call
a new tender if it feels the market in future has matured, with more players
able to support such a solar leasing model.

The new model overcomes obstacles that lessees had raised in previous
discussions with JTC. They said solar power supply was intermittent in
nature and could not be used for key manufacturing operations without
substantial alterations to infrastructure. Their property leases may be
shorter than the solar contract period, and power generated during
non-operating hours would be wasted.

The cost of electricity from traditional energy sources has also been low,
said Mr Mark Koh, JTC's director of facilities and estate management.

Under the new leasing model, solar energy users do not need to change their
infrastructure and may enjoy discounted solar power. Solar-generation
companies no longer need to limit their customers to the building owners and
occupants that their solar panels sit atop.

Sun Electric chief executive Matthew Peloso said its platform, called
SolarSpace, allows buildings to sign up and sell power to any electricity
consumer connected on the national power grid. "Today, a number of Reits
(real estate investment trusts) see the benefit in this programme, and we
are developing solar-power projects on industrial rooftops from Changi to
Tuas," he said.

Sun Electric's electricity prices are typically 10 to 20 per cent lower than
the tariff rate in Singapore, added Dr Peloso.

JTC chief executive Png Cheong Boon said: "By leading the way with this new
... model, we also hope to encourage more solar installations in Singapore,
since building owners will now be able to generate revenue from the use of
their roof space, regardless of their own energy demands."

Singapore's solar energy deployment is now about 130MWp, and Deputy Prime
Minister Teo Chee Hean said this month that the plan is to have more than 1
gigawatt-peak after 2020, which will represent about 15 per cent of
electrical power demand at peak during the day.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/jtc-awards-contract-under-new-solar-lea
sing-model

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com