Solar panels hung over void spaces: JTC goes innovative as Singapore ramps up deployment
Woodlands East Industrial Estate may be home to food-related trades such as traditional foodstuff and catering kitchens, but it will also soon be a home for innovative solar solutions.As part of the country's efforts to ramp up solar deployment to meet its new ambition of 4-gigawatt-peak (GWp) by 2035, businesses and visitors at 15 Woodlands Loop will soon see solar panels being suspended across the void space between two existing buildings.Emphasising the need to look beyond conventional surfaces such as rooftops and open land, Minister of State for Energy, Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang said at the Asia Clean Energy Summit on Tuesday (Oct 27) that this will help maximise Singapore's solar potential.She cited JTC's pilot of the country's first "overhang" solar deployment project at Woodlands East Industrial as an example of innovative solutions in land-scarce Singapore."This will transform an unused area of more than half a football field into a new source of energy. If successful, the pilot could unlock similar unused spaces between more buildings for solar deployment," Gan said.