The shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell, the Netherlands-headquartered oil and gas giant have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore state firm JTC Corp to explore developing a solar farm on a landfill portion in the country.
The companies said in a statement that if the solar farm is successful, it will reduce the city-state’s carbon emissions and meet its growing clean energy needs.
The solar farm will be the first large-scale solar project in Singapore where a sanitary landfill is also used for clean energy generation, they said, and also adding that the project is aligned with the country’s target to increase solar deployment to at least 2 global warming potential (GWp) by 2030.
The MoU is also supported by Singapore’s National Environment Agency and Energy Market Authority. JTC and Shell have stated that they will jointly conduct a Request for Information (RFI) exercise on June 24 to source for “innovative solutions from the market”.
The solar farm, which is expected to be located on part of the Semakau landfill, about two kilometers from Shell’s Bukom manufacturing site, will cover an area of 60 hectares (148.3 acres) and have a capacity of at least 72 MegaWatt peak (MWp), enough to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 37,000 tonnes per year.
Land-scarce Singapore has been finding ways to harness solar energy, which it finds the most promising renewable energy source. As part of a 10-year plan, Shell is revamping its manufacturing business where as, Bukom is pivoting from a crude-oil, fuels-based product slate towards new, low-carbon value chains.
