Floating solar farm to cover one-third of Lower Seletar Reservoir by 2029

It will contribute 6.5% of Singapore's solar capacity target of 2 gigawatt-peak by 2030

- Ang Qing Correspondent

A new floating solar farm occupying an area larger than Gardens by the Bay will soon cover 36 per cent of Lower Seletar Reservoir.

Construction is slated to begin in 2027.

When completed two years later, the facility will generate at least 130 megawatt-peak of electricity, contributing 6.5 per cent of Singapore's solar capacity target of 2 gigawatt-peak by 2030.

National water agency PUB disclosed these details on Dec 23 in reports of an environmental impact assessment for the project spanning some 115ha of the water body's surface.

The assessment had been called for the site as a key corridor facilitating the travel of wildlife between Singapore's largest nature reserve, the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, to the northern shoreline habitats of Simpang-Khatib Bongsu and Coney Island.

The 384-page report, prepared by consultant EnviroSolutions & Consulting, recommends adjusting the floating solar panels' layout to minimise disruption to wildlife using the site, as well as to limit erosion of the reservoir's shoreline.

Surveys conducted between August 2023 and May 2024 recorded 218 animal species in the area. Nineteen considered significant for conservation were found to use the reservoir and its shoreline.