SINGAPORE – Public bus operator Go-Forward Singapore will set up ultra-thin photo voltaic panels on the roof of fifty extra buses after a six-month, proof-of-concept check in 2021 confirmed constructive outcomes.
By the top of April, a complete of 52 buses shall be fitted with versatile, 1.6mm-thick photo voltaic panels, and the buses shall be deployed on numerous providers run by the corporate right here, it stated on Monday. .
These buses make up about 11 p.c of Go-Forward Singapore’s almost 450-strong bus fleet, which additionally consists of many electrical buses.
When all 52 buses with photo voltaic panels are totally deployed right here, the corporate says it expects carbon emissions from the autos to be lower by about 200 tons per yr. That is equal to the annual carbon emissions of 43 passenger vehicles.
The photo voltaic panels mounted on the roof weigh lower than 20kg in complete, they usually generate 1,000 watts of vitality, which is sufficient to energy a small kitchen equipment.
Photo voltaic panels assist save gas by charging the bus’s battery, which might in any other case must depend on the automotive’s alternator. This in flip reduces the load on the bus engine.
The bus battery is often used for ignition and offering energy to the bus when the engine is turned off.
In March 2021, two Man A22 Euro 6 diesel buses have been outfitted with photo voltaic panels to check whether or not they’re efficient in utilizing photo voltaic vitality below Singapore’s tropical local weather and visitors circumstances.
Buses are used on service No. 15, which begins and ends at Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, and the panels are additionally checked to see if they’re sturdy sufficient to face up to greater temperatures and day by day washing.
Go-Forward Singapore stated the check confirmed that the buses have been in a position to obtain gas financial savings of three to 4 p.c a yr, which interprets into about 3.7 to 4 tons of carbon emissions per yr per bus.
These are the outcomes predicted by Go-Forward Singapore when it began testing right here. These projections are based mostly on knowledge from an identical profitable trial performed in Southampton, Britain.
Go-Forward Singapore stated the choice to put in photo voltaic panels on extra buses got here after session with the Land Transport Authority (LTA). The authority owns all bus property right here below Singapore’s bus contracting mannequin.
Go-Forward Singapore added that the photo voltaic panel initiative can also be according to its mum or dad firm Go-Forward Group’s ambition to turn out to be a net-zero carbon enterprise by 2045.
