ACES: Singapore Advances Regional Clean Energy Integration and Cross-BorderCollaboration

At the opening address of the Asia Clean Energy Summit (ACES) 2024, Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, outlined Singapore's plans to advance regional energy integration and cross-border collaboration. 

During the event, Dr Tan highlighted two key decarbonisation pathways for Singapore: importing low-carbon electricity from the region and developing cross-border carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions.

Boosting low-carbon electricity imports

An important milestone is EMA granting Conditional Approval to Sun Cable for importing 1.75GW of low-carbon electricity from Australia's Northern Territory. This project is part of Singapore's broader ambitions to increase low-carbon electricity imports from 4GW to around 6GW by 2035.

"This is an ambitious project, considering the scale and the distance between Australia and Singapore," said Dr. Tan, adding that the project is expected to come online after 2035.

When completed, the Sun Cable project will be a meaningful complement to the ASEAN Power Grid, and serves as an additional source of electricity for Singapore.

"We will continue to grant Conditional Approvals to projects which we assess to be credible, including those which will materialise over a longer time frame beyond 2035," Dr. Tan emphasised.

Interconnectors are critical for the next phase of electricity imports journey. Singapore will tap on SP PowerInterconnect (SPPI), a subsidiary of SP Group, as a technical and development partner to collaborate with importers in implementing the interconnector projects.

Accelerating the potential of cross-border CCS projects

Cross-border carbon capture and storage (CCS) is another area of focus for Singapore. With several countries in ASEAN blessed with hundreds of gigatons of geological storage potential, CCS partnerships can bring significant benefits to the region.

Exporting countries benefit from cross-border CCS projects because it helps to decarbonise otherwise hard-to-abate industries, while storage countries benefit from foreign direct investments, job creation and utilisation of geological resources.

Dr Tan added the Singapore will be supporting Malaysia and Indonesia in their ambitions to be regional CCS hubs.

Advancing the ASEAN Power Grid

Dr Tan outlined the importance of partnerships and the "collective will to make the ASEAN Power Grid a reality".

Describing the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS-PIP) as a pathfinder project, Dr Tan explained that the expanded capacity to 200MW in Phase 2 of the LTMS-PIP was made possible by the introduction of multidirectional power trade – whereby both Malaysia and Laos can provide supply to the project.

"We would like to further increase cross-border electricity trade with Malaysia, and we are working closely with our Malaysian counterparts to advance these discussions," Dr Tan said. 

In February this year, Singapore and Indonesia signed a Letter of Intent on cross-border CCS. Since then, a bilateral interagency working group has been formed to discuss policy and technical matters relating to CCS.

Stay tuned for live updates! Follow @SIEW_sg on Telegram and Twitter for the latest as we dive into the conversations shaping Day 2.