Solar System Technology Group

The group runs extensive research programmes that are the scientific base to analyse and optimise the performance of solar PV systems in the tropics. They include outdoor energy yield evaluation on both module and system levels to better understand the performance and degradation of various PV module technologies in Singapore’s tropical climate conditions. Beyond the tropics, the team also carries out comparative research on PV module and system performance across different climate zones (within the “TruePower^TM” project). A special focus of the group is “Floating Solar”, which is developing rapidly into the 3rd pillar of the global solar industry. The group has established international leadership in this field by gaining rich technical expertise in design, implementation, operation & maintenance (O&M) and energy yield assessments through the MW-scale Floating PV testbed at Singapore’s Tengeh reservoir and numerous technical consultancy projects. The research is being expanded towards near-shore and off-shore floating solar solutions to better understand their potential and how to tackle the additional challenges in marine environments, be it for pure electricity generation or in combination with other uses such as fish farming or desalination.