Sembcorp looking to supply YCH Group's warehouses in Asia with solar power

SEMBCORP Industries on Friday said it is working together with YCH Group on supplying its warehouses across Asia with solar power, as it announced the completion of a rooftop solar farm at YCH's Supply Chain City flagship building.

Sembcorp will now look to power other YCH's facilities with solar energy, in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, it said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange .

Said Robert Yap, executive chairman of logistics group YCH: "The inauguration of the solar energy system with Sembcorp marks a new milestone in YCH efforts to build on our green initiatives. We look forward to collaborating with them and leverage their smart solar energy system to power our warehouses across the region."

Koh Chiap Khiong, Sembcorp's head of Singapore, South-east Asia & China (Energy), said: "With the successful completion of the solar energy system at Supply Chain City, we are pleased to partner YCH in helping them to provide their clients a solution which instantly cuts their carbon footprint and gives them cheaper electricity."

The completed 2.8 megawatt peak solar farm for Supply Chain City is owned and operated by Sembcorp. Under a long term contact, the farm will provide energy for the 2 million square foot building and its tenants, with surplus power being channelled to the grid.

Some 8,000 solar panels are expected to generate over 3,400 megawatt hours of green power annually, which is enough to power more than 770 four-room HDB flats for a year.

This will help to avoid about 1.5 million kilogrammes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) emissions a year, equivalent to the impact of taking almost 320 cars off the road, said Sembcorp. It will also enhance the sustainability of Supply Chain City, already a BCA Green Mark (Platinum) and US Green Building Council LEED Platinum certified building, the company added.

The solar farm is also backed by a new high-tech digital system at the Sembcorp Solar Performance Monitoring Centre housed within the same building. Using real-time tracking devices, the centralised digital platform remotely monitors the output of every single string of rooftop solar system installed at Supply Chain City as well as at all of Sembcorp's other solar power projects in Singapore, enabling maintenance and troubleshooting teams to be swiftly deployed when needed, said the company.

Sembcorp said the completion of the solar farm is not expected to have a material impact on the earnings per share and net asset value per share of Sembcorp for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2019.