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Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects 1 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Manpower in light of reports of energy and business costs leading firms to defer hiring and trim benefits (a) what is the Government’s assessment of the impact on hiring prospects for jobseekers, including graduates and mid-career entrants; (b) whether there are signs of slower entry-level job creation or longer job searches; and (c) what further measures are being considered to support employment opportunities.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects 2 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Manpower in view of the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict and its economic impact (a) whether the Government sees hiring by businesses to be more subdued; (b) what sectors are most affected; and (c) what further measures are being taken to support employment growth.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Mr Speaker, Sir, good morning. With your permission, I would like to address oral Questions Nos 1 and 2 in today’s Order Paper together. My reply will also cover written Question No 28. And I invite all Members to seek clarifications after.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Please proceed.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Members may refer to Deputy Prime Minister's Ministerial Statement on 7 April, which described the economic impact of the Middle East crisis.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Energy-intensive industries and outward-oriented sectors saw the most impact from increased energy costs. The crisis has also increased domestic operating costs and compounded challenges for export-oriented sectors, which are already impacted by global trade fragmentation.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects While the labour market remains resilient for now, businesses have become more cautious in their hiring plans amid the heightened uncertainty.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Based on the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) survey, the proportion of firms intending to hire in the next three months, fell from 54.6% in February 2026 to 44.6% in March 2026. Although expectations remain below February's levels, there were early signs of stabilisation in April. This was supported by data from the Economic Development Board and the Department of Statistics, which suggest that hiring sentiments are likely to further stabilise and improve over the longer term.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects All jobseekers who need assistance can tap on Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore's suite of career matching services and programmes. Depending on the economic and job market conditions, MOM stands ready to provide further support to jobseekers, if necessary.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Mr Yip.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister for his reply. Given reports that some firms are slowing workforce expansion due to cost pressures due to the situation in the Middle East, has MOM observed any corresponding shift in firms hiring preferences between local workers and our foreign workforce? And does the Ministry intend to further calibrate Work Pass policies if Singaporeans, particularly mid-career professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), are facing disproportionately weaker hiring process?
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects I thank the Member for his supplementary question. We have not seen any shifts at the moment in firms' hiring preferences. Our resident employment continued to grow in the first quarter of 2026, and we just released the report about a week ago. That growth was higher compared to the first quarter of 2025; so, there is seasonality in terms of the change involved. If you compare, you would compare the first quarter of this year, 2026, versus the first quarter of 2025; and the resident employment continued to grow.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Our Work Pass policies also ensure that Singaporeans are given a level playing field against foreign workers and we do our level best to ensure that our foreign workers here are complementary to our local Singaporean workers.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects We have been continually calibrating our Work Pass policies in response to labour market conditions. For example, at Budget and the Committee of Supply this year, we announced an increase in Employment Pass and S Pass qualifying salaries that will take effect from January 2027. We also regularly review the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) Shortage Occupation List (SOL) to remove occupations that are no longer in shortage.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects So, we always seek to strike a right balance between ensuring that our businesses have that space, the latitude to continue to grow, while ensuring that our local Singaporean workers and talent continue to also have the trajectory for them to grow as well.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Mr Liang Eng Hwa.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Thank you, Mr Speaker. Sir, we hope that there will be peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict soon and that the Strait of Hormuz will be fully open. Notwithstanding, as the Minister has said before on several occasions, even if the conflict is over, the damage it has cost, especially to the oil and gas infrastructure, will have long-lasting impact to the world economy.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Can I further ask the Minister if he sees, as a result of the war, permanent or structural changes to the related industries that will affect the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, and that will affect investments in specific sectors within our economy and hence, job opportunities?
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Also, on the reserves, whether the crisis, although it poses risks and challenges to us, whether the Minister also sees new opportunities created as a result of the crisis and worthy of us investing into it or doubling down, for example, in our oil refinery capacity, our position as an oil trading hub or even in the energy transition?
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects I thank Mr Liang for those two very insightful supplementary questions. I think it is premature today to conclude on the long-term structural impact related to the industry transformation, because the crisis, as we speak, is still unfolding. And if you look at the media, it evolves on a daily basis. It is also reflected in the way oil prices and stock prices have moved concurrently.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Our view is that the crisis is likely to accelerate the existing structural shifts that are already underway in the entire global economy. I am talking about supply chain diversification, digitalisation. Yesterday, we spent seven hours talking about artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and the energy transition and also energy resilience. Our sense is that this will indeed push and test the resilience of countries, of economies, but in crises like these, it also creates a lot of new opportunities for firms to transform, to diversify and to deepen their capabilities.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects In the energy supply chain, we are in the entire energy ecosystem. Energy has come to the forefront because it is existential for all of us. And with the move towards a pervasive adoption of AI, there will be a need for even more energy to drive the data centres and the high compute requirements of these AI data centres.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Energy is really the new currency and it is existential for all of us.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects We are also at a time in our entire civilisations' development where there is actually an abundance of new discoveries in oil and gas, and there are also a lot of accelerated developments towards green energy sources.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects What we are experiencing currently are supply chain blockages, chokeholds – for instance, what we are seeing now in the Middle East in the Strait of Hormuz. Our sense is that many countries are moving, not just thinking about diversification but they are also moving into a "just in case" mode rather than "just in time". For Singapore, because we stand at a very strategic crossroad between the East and the West, I believe that given the decades of goodwill, the trust, the credibility and our reputation that we have built as a very reliable partner to many countries, this crisis will test us and if we are able to prevail, I think, it would cement, reinforce and consolidate our position as a trusted hub.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects So, to that end, our Prime Minister has, in recent weeks, committed that we will not impose any export restriction. For downstream refined products, the essential fuel products – whether it is motor gas, diesel and so on – many of the countries depend on our refinery hubs to get access to that downstream supply. And our sectors here will continue to see relevance. And of course, we are equally committed to our decarbonisation targets that we have set for ourselves.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects So, I believe that these are new opportunities in the energy space, in the supply chain space that we are able and we have our right to play a role. We have our competitive advantage and we will continue to build on them, including our port, our maritime hub, our connectivity, our entire logistics, moving into advanced manufacturing, financial services and healthcare.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects So, I hope that gives the Member the overall opportunities available, first and foremost to Singaporeans and complementary talent who will come here to help us reinforce our position and help us to continue to grow.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Dr Choo.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the Minister for the response. Building on the earlier response, could the Minister share whether Singapore's workforce planning approach is being further adapted for a more persistent state of structural uncertainty, where workers may face overlapping disruptions from trade fragmentation, technological change and sectoral restructuring, which may occur concurrently over their careers rather than as isolated transitions?
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects I thank Dr Choo for her supplementary question. The answer is a resounding yes. I had the opportunity of reading the draft of the Economic Strategy Review report. I think it is going to be released soon. Many of the points that she covered will and have been addressed in the report, which I think will be released and shared in due time.
Impact of Energy Crisis on Hiring Prospects But based on what we have been debating over the last two days – yesterday, seven hours; the previous day, on the formation of the Skills and Workforce Development Agency, five over hours – in an over 12-hour stretch of debate, this is really what the focus is all about. About how we can prepare our workers and how we are going to invest in our workers to further reinforce their competitive advantage in dealing with longer-term structural shifts in our entire economy and in the entire workforce transformation journey.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort 3 Ms Lee Hui Ying asked the Acting Minister for Transport (a) whether the Ministry has considered installing solar-powered fans at bus stops to improve commuter comfort in view of projections that 2026 may be among the hottest years on record; and (b) if so, what are the (i) findings on feasibility, (ii) estimated costs and (iii) implementation plans.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Based on earlier trials conducted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), fans have a limited impact on the ambient temperature in an exposed bus stop environment. Commuter feedback from the trials was also unfavourable. Most bus stops are also shaded by surrounding buildings and trees, reducing the effectiveness of solar installations. We therefore have no plans to install solar-powered fans at bus stops.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort LTA will continue to study other options to improve commuter comfort at bus stops, including the use of green roofs which can help lower the ambient temperature.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Ms Lee Hui Ying.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Compared to 2016, when the trials took place, Singapore today is really experiencing more frequent and also intense heat stress, with 2026 projected to be among the hottest years on record. So, I have a few supplementary questions.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort First, whether the Ministry has studied cooler bus stop concepts used overseas for adaptation in Singapore? For example, a solar-powered bioclimatic shelter in Spain that actually can claim to reduce temperatures by 20°C to keep pedestrians cool?
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Second supplementary question: as we adapt to a rising urban heat, whether then commuter heat resilience can be a formal consideration in future bus stop designs?
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Third supplementary question: may I ask for the progress of the green roofs deployment and how does the Ministry identify and prioritise these bus stops for green roofs deployment? And in Nee Soon South, we have four bus stops surrounding Khatib Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station. We are happy to partner the Ministry and LTA to deploy the green roofs as early as possible in the area, so that we can beat the heat together.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort I thank the Member for her interest in this area. Yes, we are looking at options all over the world, but they need to be commercially viable and available. I had a quick look at what the Member had suggested, the one in Spain. If I am not wrong, it is a university research project. So, it is probably still at an early stage and I understand that it will also require some underground water piping to include mist in the fans. So, this sounds quite expensive and I am not sure whether we will be able to do it and deploy across Singapore at bus stops.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Even though our trial was done 10 years ago, I think certain factors like shading from buildings and trees is still a factor that we have to overcome. In fact, I think the effect would have been more pronounced now because of our continuous greening efforts in Singapore. But we will continue to look at that.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort The question about the green roof deployment, it is not just about putting turf or soil on the bus stop roof and planting some seeds because the structure of the roof must be reinforced to handle the additional weight as well as needs for access for maintenance and things like that. So, we will normally do it during the scheduled refurbishment of bus stops. It would be carried out in phases. We note the Member's interest for her area in Nee Soon. I am sure other Members will be interested as well, but we will do it in due course.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort On the second point about heat resilience, may I ask the Member to just clarify again? I did not really get the question.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Ms Lee.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Thank you. Essentially, for future bus stop designs, whether we will keep in mind solar panel designs or in future then to include heat resilience elements to keep our bus stops cool.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Certainly. Members would remember that over the years and decades, our bus stop designs have evolved. We have to take into consideration various factors, not just the comfort of commuters who are waiting there but also the practicality of sighting of buses coming ahead as well as maintenance, safety and different factors like that.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort So, as we predict more climatic challenges ahead, if we are able to address that and provide a more conducive environment for waiting commuters, that is something that we will definitely look into.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Mr Dennis Tan.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort Thank you, Speaker, just a quick supplementary question for the Minister of State. Can I seek the Minister of State's confirmation whether there is actually a plan to green roof all the new bus stops from now on?
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort I would say that the greening of bus stop roofs may not be something that is practical across all bus stops. I do not have the exact figures, but I am sure we must have tens of thousands of bus stops in Singapore. So, there is a cost element.
Installing Solar-powered Fans at Bus Stops to Improve Commuter Comfort And as mentioned earlier, whether it is practical because the vegetation there also needs sunlight and water. So, if the surrounding has a lot of tall buildings or tall trees that do not provide enough sunlight, then the green roof will not grow well. So, we will have to look at the conditions, whether they are favourable for a green roof to succeed and flourish. And then, as I said, it will also be done in tandem with the regular schedule of bus stop rejuvenation.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces 4 Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the policy basis for providing the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI) but declining equivalent capital subsidies for residential rooftop solar panel installation; (b) what are the (i) take-up rates of the EEAI and (ii) proportion of private households that have installed solar panels; and (c) whether the Ministry will introduce comparable capital grants or property tax rebates for residential solar panels.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces 5 Dr Choo Pei Ling asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry in view of the energy crisis, whether the Government will consider (i) mandating the installation of solar panels for all new buildings and estates and (ii) providing greater incentives for existing building owners to install solar panels.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces 6 Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what has the Ministry assessed to be the key barriers to deploy solar panels in private residential and commercial spaces, including spaces managed by Management Corporations Strata Titles; and (b) whether additional measures, such as grants, financing support, property tax reliefs or regulatory adjustments, are being considered to address these barriers.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Speaker, may I provide a combined reply to oral Parliamentary Question Nos 4 to 6 as well as written Parliamentary Question No 4 in today's Order Paper as they cover the same subject?
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Yes, please proceed.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Thank you. Mr Speaker, there has been strong growth in solar adoption over the last few years. We have achieved two gigawatt-peak of installed solar capacity island-wide and have set an increased target of three gigawatt-peak by 2030. For private residential buildings, the number with solar panels has increased more than four times in the last five years, from around 1,400 in 2020 to around 6,900 in 2025. This corresponds to about 8% of all private residential buildings.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces The growth in solar deployment has been driven by favourable economics. Solar panel costs have come down over the years and the payback period for rooftop solar can be five years or even less. The Government has also introduced measures that can help to further reduce the payback period for eligible building owners. For example, eligible private buildings can tap on the Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings 2.0, which helps building owners lower the upfront cost of energy improvement works, such as solar panel installation. Depending on the overall carbon abatement achieved, eligible building owners can benefit from grant support of up to 50% of the cost of their energy improvement works, capped at $1.2 million.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Some jurisdictions have made it mandatory for new buildings to install solar panels. In Singapore, we have no plans at this stage to mandate solar panel installation on buildings because some building owners may prioritise other rooftop uses, such as greenery, or their rooftops may not be suited to solar installation due to factors, such as shading from neighbouring tall buildings.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces The Government strongly encourages all building owners to install solar panels if this is feasible. With ongoing global uncertainty in energy prices, solar installation can provide building owners with savings and greater predictability on their electricity bills while contributing to Singapore's overall energy resilience. In recent weeks, some solar vendors locally have reported an increase in interest in solar panels among private building owners. This could be partly because of the recent increase in the regulated tariff for electricity and also perhaps some anticipation of further increase in the tariff.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces For building owners who may be concerned about the costs of installing solar panels, some solar vendors offer “rent-to-own” or “solar leasing” models that allow building owners to enjoy the benefits of solar installation with little to no upfront cost.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Kenneth Tiong has asked on the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI). The EEAI was implemented in January 2021 to encourage the early adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by reducing the gap in total upfront cost between an EV and equivalent internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. The EEAI parameters have tapered with narrowing upfront costs capped over the years and will cease from 1 January 2027. As of March 2026, more than 55,000 electric cars and taxis have benefited from the EEAI.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces The Government will continue to push for solar deployment in Singapore and will consider further measures if necessary to accelerate solar adoption in Singapore.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Kenneth Tiong.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Thank you, Speaker. Residential rooftop solar generates clean energy and reduces household dependence on imported natural gas and provides a hedge against energy price shocks – benefits that EVs, which add demand to the same gas-dependent grid, do not provide. I note that the Minister of State has mentioned the Green Mark scheme. Despite the Green Mark scheme, 92% of eligible rooftops are still without solar panels.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces So, my first supplementary question is, why does she believe that that is currently the case? And my second supplementary question is, would the Ministry consider providing more of the same type of upfront support available for EV purchases to accelerate residential solar adoption?
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Speaker, as I have mentioned earlier on, the economic conditions now are actually very favourable for private property building owners to consider solar installation, primarily because the solar technology has improved in terms of efficiency and also the cost of installation has come down substantially. So, if you compare it with a few years ago, there was hesitancy in private building owners to adopt solar deployment, but now we are, indeed, seeing a much higher interest among private building owners, including residential properties. And we believe that the economics will drive faster adoption.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Having said that, we will monitor closely the rate of adoption and the Government is prepared to consider additional measures, if necessary.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces On the point about EEAI, actually EEAI works in a certain way. It assumes that the consumer wants to buy a vehicle and is choosing between different types of vehicles. And in this case, the EEAI nudges the consumer to consider an EV, even though an EV could be more costly than an ICE vehicle.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces But for building owners, here, we are talking about catalysing a purchase, a new purchase. And there are various considerations. It is not just about the cost. It is not just about whether there is an incentive from the Government. But some of the private residential building owners have also expressed some other considerations. For example, some are concerned about whether it will affect the integrity of the waterproofing for the roof. Others have also said that they are unsure about the reliability of the solar panel installation vendors. And of course, there are some building owners who prefer to keep their rooftops for other purposes and preferring not to install solar panels. Even if you have a grant, it may not nudge them to go for the purchase.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces I think it is important that we understand the issue closely and look at what it takes for us to be able to effectively nudge private building owners to go towards solar installation.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Dr Choo Pei Ling.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the Minister of State for the response. I have three supplementary questions.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces First, as a small country that cannot take energy security for granted, could the Minister of State share whether Singapore may increasingly move towards designing future developments and estates to be more solar ready from the outset, so that we strengthen our long-term resilience rather than rely on retrofitting later on?
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Second, could the Minister of State also elaborate on whether there are opportunities for closer collaboration and coordination across agencies involved in energy planning, urban development and building design, so that solar deployment can be integrated more systematically upstream in future developments?
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces And third, as Singapore scales up solar deployment over time, how is the Ministry strengthening our local ecosystem of manpower, technical expertise and supply resilience to support this transition in a sustainable and long-term fashion?
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Speaker, the first two supplementary questions are somewhat related, so I will answer them together. Indeed, the Government agencies are working closely together to look at how we can make solar installation in Singapore easier and more cost-effective for the building owners. New buildings are required to meet standards under the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA's) Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings, with solar being recognised as one of the acceptable carbon-reduction measures under the Code.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces The broader theme is about sustainability. Solar installation is certainly one of the means. There are also other things that building designs can take into account, where it is more practical, for example, energy consumption, the building design and ventilation. There are several things that building owners can adopt and not be limited to just solar. Of course, we believe that solar, because of its cost effectiveness, going forward, there will be more adopters of this technology.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces We will continue to push the boundaries whenever possible and to explore more innovative solar deployments in Singapore, such as at car parks and bridges and even in between buildings.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces I also want to highlight another example of how our agencies are working together to simplify regulations to make it easier to install solar panels. Last year, the Singapore Civil Defence Force reviewed the fire safety requirement for one-hour fire separation for roof-mounted solar panel installations. The simplified fire safety requirements exempt more than half of all solar panel installations on metal-roofed buildings, and this basically allows eligible business owners to save up to 30% on total construction costs.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces So, it is both regulatory codes and also review of existing regulations for us to move both new buildings and existing buildings toward higher adoption of solar as well as other environment sustainability measures.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces On the third question on strengthening our local ecosystem, that is a really good question. We have been working on that for a long time with our institutes of higher learning (IHLs), both for pre-employment training for the graduates as well as for continuing education and training for adults who have graduated from our IHLs. There is a skills framework for energy and power that is developed jointly by the Government, industry, the unions and the IHLs.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Specifically, for solar, SkillsFuture Singapore also partners Sembcorp Solar as a SkillsFuture Queen Bee since 2024. This is to uplift other companies in this sector in training their workers and for us to be able to generate that talent pipeline that is needed to sustain this ecosystem.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Edward Chia.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Thank you, Speaker. I received feedback from private property owners and Management Corporations Strata Title (MCSTs) on concerns and uncertainties with regard to procurement, financing structures and even things like warrantees on waterproofing, reliability and maintenance, something which the Minister of State alluded to earlier; and in the case of MCST, the high threshold for approvals to adopt solar energy.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces So, hence, I would like to ask the Minister of State, will the Ministry first assist to streamline the MCST approval process so that we can drive and accelerate solar adoption on private property, such as condominiums? Second, for all private property owners, to develop a simple starter kit with standard templates on procurement; financing option, such as power purchase agreements; also matters on maintenance, roles and responsibilities of vendors and warrantees; and also, importantly, provide a white list of vendors so that private property owners will have the confidence to engage vendors. This will all drive a wider adoption and accelerate solar adoption in private properties.
Barriers to Deploying Solar Panels in New Buildings, and Private Residential and Commercial Spaces Mr Speaker, BCA had conducted a public consultation to review various aspects of the Building Strata Management Act, and this includes the proposal to lower the resolution requirement for third-parties solar ownership models. They are exploring a reduction from 75% to possibly 50%. This will be helpful and we are awaiting BCA's completion of this review. On the suggestion to have a starter kit for private property owners, especially residential owners, that is a very good idea. We will seriously consider it.
Constraints that Prevent Scaling of Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays in Singapore Strait 7 Dr Neo Kok Beng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry in light of the National University of Singapore (NUS) March 2026 research indicating that tidal energy could meet about 22% of Singapore's electricity demand (a) what is the Government's plan or strategy regarding tidal energy; and (b) what maritime constraints prevent the scaling of hydrokinetic turbine arrays in the Singapore Strait.
Constraints that Prevent Scaling of Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays in Singapore Strait Mr Speaker, studies have been conducted on the potential to deploy tidal energy in Singapore, but there are no current plans to deploy tidal energy. There is limited sea space for the deployment of tidal energy devices because much of Singapore's territorial waters is already used for ports, anchorage and shipping lanes.
Constraints that Prevent Scaling of Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays in Singapore Strait The study cited by the Member did not take into account these existing uses of sea space or the cost-effectiveness of tidal energy when estimating the amount of electricity that could be generated from tidal energy in Singapore. Given the limited sea space available, the amount of tidal energy that can realistically be harnessed domestically is estimated to be less than 1% of Singapore's energy needs.
Data on Drop-outs from SSG-funded Programmes and Appeals for Fee Waivers Upon Non-completion of Courses 8 Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the drop-out rates among learners in SkillsFuture Singapore-funded programmes by stage and course category; (b) how many appeals by learners to waive course fees or penalties upon non-completion or failure are received annually; (c) what proportion of such appeals succeeded; and (d) what is the employment or certification rate based on all enrolled learners rather than graduates alone.
Data on Drop-outs from SSG-funded Programmes and Appeals for Fee Waivers Upon Non-completion of Courses In 2025, more than 90% of learners completed their SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) courses. SSG does not process course fee waiver requests for learners who fail to complete their courses. Such waivers are subject to the contractual agreement between learners and training providers. In circumstances where learners face difficulties completing the course, SSG encourages training providers to work with learners to find a mutually acceptable solution, which could include course deferments, make-up lessons or reassessments.