Sunseap Group, Singapore’s clean energy solutions provider, has secured an $85.8 million loan for its SolarNova 4 project to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems across more than 1,200 public housing blocks and 49 government sites.

The project is the largest clean energy project in Singapore to date, according to the company.

DBS Bank and UOB will each provide half the loan amount utilizing Sunseap’s Green Financing Framework.

Sunseap’s Green Financing Framework aligns with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles 2018, the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles 2018, and ASEAN Green Bond Standards 2018.

SolarNova 4, which has a capacity of 70 MW, is estimated to generate 96,775MWh, equivalent to powering 20,400 public housing four-room flats and potentially offset more than 68,583 tons of carbon emissions per annum.

Facebook previously signed a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Sunseap to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from the excess energy generated from solar panels in the SolarNova 4 project. The excess solar energy from these sites is exported to the power grid, and Sunseap sells the RECs from this exported energy to Facebook under the private VPPA deal. The solar energy generated will support Facebook’s Singapore operations.

In July this year, Sunseap signed an agreement with Badan Pengusahaan Batam to set up a 2.2 GW floating photovoltaic project and energy storage system on a reservoir in Indonesia’s Batam Island at the cost of $2 billion.

Sunseap won the tender for Phase 4 of the SolarNova project in 2019, and installations commenced in 2020. The SolarNova program is led by Housing Development Block (HDB) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) to aggregate demand for solar PV systems. Under the SolarNova program, HDB has committed a total solar capacity of 330 MW for 6,901 HDB blocks and a solar target of 540 MW by 2030.

Sunseap has over 2000 MW of solar energy projects contracted across Asia on more than 3,000 buildings in Singapore, including public housing estates and commercial and industrial buildings.

Sunseap Group also operates in Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia.

To tackle climate change, the national Singapore Green Plan 2030 plans to halve its 2030 peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and achieve net-zero emissions “as soon as viable” in the second half of the century.

Image credit: Sunseap Group