Step into Mr Goh Jing Hwee's house and you will be greeted by an array of installations that harness the power of the sun. Solar-powered clip-on lights line the stairway, solar-powered bollard lights dot the garden and 60 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels cover the roof of his residence. When the 63-year-old semi-retiree rebuilt his home in central Singapore in 2021, he designed a flat roof specifically for a solar panel system that cost around S$30,000.
Almost a decade before that, a much smaller solar panel system had cost him three times as much."In 2012, when I put the solar panels, it was very expensive … (Now) the cost has gone down by as much as 60 to 70 per cent," Mr Goh said, adding that he expects to recoup his investment in about eight to nine years. On an average day, around 60 per cent of what his rooftop system generates covers all his household's daytime electricity usage, with the excess electricity generated sold to Singapore's national power grid. The falling costs and improving efficiency have made solar solutions an easy sell for homeowners such as Mr Goh and businesses grappling with rising electricity bills. When Mr Eu Jun Hao, manager at Oriental Aquarium, was planning to move his aquatic plant farm from Lim Chu Kang to Sungei Tengah seven years ago, he anticipated that his electricity usage would surge as he modernised production techniques. The farm's water recirculation system in the new semi-controlled greenhouse would require more electricity than his previous site, where plants were grown in the open air.The 429 installed panels have since cut his electricity bill by around 40 per cent compared to buying fully from the national power grid, his provider Union Energy stated.Mr Eu is on a 14-year power purchase agreement, a long-term contract in which a solar provider finances, installs and maintains a solar energy system. The property owner avoids a high upfront cost and buys the generated electricity from the provider at a fixed rate."We were glad that we made this choice when we saw the substantial savings, especially in the current climate's electricity prices," Mr Eu said.
