On Monday, solar energy producer Sunseap Group announced that it has reached a deal with Facebook to power its Singapore-based operations, including Facebook’s first custom-built data center in Asia.
According to a Sunseap announcement, this is a first-of-its kind virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) between Sunseap and Facebook. A VPPA is a financial energy contract in which a power buyer (in this case, Facebook) agrees to purchase renewable energy at a fixed, predetermined price.
This energy may be produced from a renewable project located away from a company’s premises, as long as it is co-located on the same power grid.
Landmark VPPA
According to Sunseap, Facebook will receive renewable energy credits (RECs) from electricity produced from rooftop solar panels installed on 1,200 public housing blocks and 49 government buildings across Singapore. The total installed capacity of these rooftop panels could reach 100MWp (MegaWatt peak) by 2022.
Per Sunseap’s announcement, the Facebook deal is Singapore’s largest-ever solar energy VPPA to date.
In a statement, Sunseap Group President and Executive Director Lawrence Wu said, “We are very excited to partner with Facebook to introduce virtual power purchase agreements to Singapore and the rest of the region. We believe VPPA is the way to go for enterprises as they accelerate efforts to add renewables to their energy mix. This is a game-changer in Asia’s drive to decarbonize and fight climate change. Furthermore, companies that are constrained by a lack of space to install solar panels or those that require geographic flexibility will find a virtual contract eminently suitable for their needs.”
Facebook’s Head of Renewable Energy Urvi Parekh also commented on the deal: “As part of our goal to support 100% of our operations with renewable energy, we want to help drive the energy transition and increase access to wind and solar power around the world.
“This project will be an important part of successfully reaching our targets in the region, including supporting our data center operations with renewable energy, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Sunseap to add this new solar power to the Singapore grid.”
Sunseap Group, which is Singapore’s largest solar energy system developer and owner-operator, has contracted 300 MWp in contracted solar capacity, of which 168 MWp have been completed.
