Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) has granted conditional approvals for two projects to import 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity from Indonesia into Singapore. This follows five conditional approvals awarded in September 2023 to import a total of 2GW of low-carbon electricity from Indonesia to Singapore.
In addition, the five companies in charge of those projects have now been awarded conditional licences, announced the regulator on Sept 5 at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum in Jakarta. These conditional licences are issued to electricity import projects that have been assessed to be technically and commercially viable, and are in an advanced developmental stage.
When the obligations in the conditional licences are fulfilled, EMA may subsequently issue the companies an electricity importer licence to commence construction and commercial operations.
The largest of the five projects, for an import capacity of 0.6GW, is by Pacific Medco Solar Energy, which was formed by PacificLight Renewables, Medco Power Global and Gallant Venture 5IG .
Projects by EDP Renewables APAC and Adaro Solar International each have an import capacity of 0.4GW, while projects by Vanda RE — formed by Gurin Energy and Gentari International Renewables — and Keppel Energy each have an import capacity of 0.3GW.
According to EMA, these projects have commenced and are at various stages of completing marine surveys and feasibility studies, as well as demonstrating their ability to meet the requirements of both Indonesia and Singapore. These companies aim to achieve commercial operations for the projects from 2028.
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Two new projects
EMA granted the two new conditional approvals to Singa Renewables, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and RGE; and a partnership between Shell Eastern Trading and Vena Energy. The project by Singa Renewables has an import capacity of 1GW, while the Shell Eastern Trading-Vena Energy project has an import capacity of 0.4GW.
Low-carbon electricity imports are part of Singapore’s overall efforts to decarbonise the power sector, which currently accounts for about 40% of the nation’s carbon emissions.
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EMA also announced plans to raise Singapore’s import of low-carbon electricity to 6GW by 2035, up from the initial target of 4GW announced in 2021.
In a speech at the Sept 5 forum in Jakarta, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng says Singapore is “prepared to do more” to develop the Asean Power Grid. Tan says he will share more details at the upcoming Singapore International Energy Week 2024, which will begin on Oct 21.
The progress of these seven projects build on multiple memoranda of understanding (MOU) between Indonesia and Singapore in the area of energy cooperation that were signed in January 2022, March 2023 and September 2023.
“There is still much more work to be done before the first electrons will flow,” says Tan. “As the saying goes, if we want to go far, we must go together. There is only so much each country can do by itself to decarbonise. Singapore remains committed to working with Indonesia and other partners to support one another’s journey to net zero.”
