Chan Swee Huat is the Chief Executive Officer of the YTL PowerSeraya Group. Prior to his current appointment, he was previously the Senior Vice President of the Trading & Fuel Management Group. He had also served as Vice President of the Power Generation group, and had been involved in business development, planning, and management of power plant assets. He initially joined the company in 2001 and headed the Business Development Group.
The local energy landscape will be dominated by the use of natural gas in highly efficient co-generation plants till at least 2020. To avoid over-reliance on natural gas for power generation, alternative energy sources would need to be explored to enhance the nation’s energy security.
Already, an ASEAN framework for electricity import is gaining traction – by diversifying our sources, this can help address energy security and environmental concerns not only in Singapore but also elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, emphasis will still be placed on exploring more efficient use of fossil fuels and renewable energy, energy conservation and the adoption of innovative energy solutions such as smart grids.
Closer to home in Singapore, the progressive and eventual liberalisation of the entire electricity market will open new doors of opportunities for power generation companies and this encourages healthy competition to benefit households and industrial consumers. There are also plans to introduce more aggregators and eventually create a secondary gas market in Singapore.
There is currently also little knowledge on a rewarding career in a power industry that values one’s commitment in delivering an essential service. To support the growing energy sector, power generation companies should seek to attract and nurture a pipeline of talent to contribute to the sector.
Singapore’s first step towards importing electricity will contribute towards its interconnectivity with other countries under the ASEAN Power Grid Plan to enhance regional energy connectivity, security of electricity supply and cost-competitiveness. Presently, Singapore already has inter-connectivity with Malaysia.
Beyond the physical connectivity, Singapore needs to further establish clear policies and regulations on how entities can participate in the current National Electricity Market of Singapore (NEMs). Once the policies and regulations are in place, there will be more options for power generation companies to supply and compete in the Singapore market.
Technology can play a key role in shaping the future of energy. Globally and in Asia, governments are constantly finding ways to tap on new technologies to further enhance energy capabilities.
Companies in the region need to be forward-looking and take a closer look at embracing environmental sustainability in order to promote and support innovations in the development of energy solutions. Opportunities abound to leverage on technology in the area of renewable and clean energy, solar power and carbon mitigation in a resource-constrained economy.
In Singapore, various test-bed sites have already been developed. For example, the Intelligent Energy System signals a step closer to developing a smarter electricity grid which will help promote reliability of the networks, as well as energy sustainability and efficiency.
Being able to analyse various data captured effectively from test-bed sites and learning from best practices in other countries where applicable to locally integrate innovative solutions will seek to enhance energy sustainability in an increasingly urbanized world.
On the back of rising global climate change issues, along with a global need for feedstock diversification, we have over the years voluntarily invested in cogeneration technologies that deliver greater energy efficiencies.
YTL PowerSeraya also manages its operating costs by running the power plant units efficiently via ISO management systems, adopting responsible procurement practices and managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) emissions. The integration of our co-generation plant units and in-house seawater desalination plant has not only brought about plant efficiency gains and cost savings but also additional revenue from steam sales while lowering our environmental impact (lower carbon dioxide emissions and less strain on freshwater sources).
These measures go beyond our operations. We believe efficient use of energy is also about conservation of energy which is the cornerstone to energy sustainability. Through our retail arm, Seraya Energy, we have been working with customers on an on-going basis to help them achieve energy efficiency and savings. Value-add solutions such as these can help build customer trust and confidence in our products and services, which ultimately help enhance a company’s competitive position.
Since we joined the YTL Group of companies in 2009, we are proud that the strength of our partnership with one another has brought about stronger expertise and processes to continue the strong growth of our business.
SIEW’s theme of ‘Building Energy Connections’ reflects the increased interconnectivity of energy markets and how global and regional integration or energy networks hold the potential to shape the energy future. This resonates with our belief in the way we conduct our business – that our complementary expertise as a Group through our global and regional operations has aligned us on the same front to bring even greater value to our customers.
By integrating and expanding upon our capabilities as a Group, we will further seek to provide services such as operations and maintenance of power plants, cooling water as well as other relevant services to help industrial companies to be more efficient and sustainable in their operations.