Clean Energy for a Net-Zero World
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Introduction: The Ten-Years Difference
1. Good morning, and a warm welcome to the Singapore International Energy Week 2023. I would like to start off by congratulating the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore for holding the 10th edition of the Asia Clean Energy Summit this year! Thank you very much for 10 meaningful years of advancing the cause of clean energy in Asia.
2. Much has changed since we first held this Summit first in 2014.
a. Back then, climate change and the clean energy transition were recognised as important but were not top of mind.
b. Today, these issues are at the front and centre of every consideration when we think about the future.
3. Climate change knows no borders, its impact is felt around the world, and our actions today will shape the future for our children and grandchildren.
a. Europe saw its warmest summer in 2023.
b. From 1980 to 2020, the annual mean temperature has increased from 26.9 to 28.0 degrees Celcius. In May 2023, our temperature hit 37 degrees, equalling a 40-year record for the highest daily temperature ever recorded. Our sea levels continue to rise, and rainfall has become ever more intense.
c. Despite all our best efforts, global average temperatures are now expected to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by the first half of the 2030s.
4. Clean energy therefore is one of the most important tools in our arsenal to combat the threat of climate change and for us to realise the vision of a net-zero world.
5. For Singapore, there are five key ingredients needed to harness the potential of clean energy – (i) make cross-border electricity trading a reality; (ii) maximise the domestic deployment of renewable energy; (iii) leveraging R&D to support innovation; (iv) build a resilient and dynamic grid; and last but not least (v) upskill our workers and talents. In my speech today, I will share seven new initiatives we are embarking on to advance these priorities.
Make Cross-Border Electricity Trading a Reality
6. Today, fossil fuels are globally traded commodities. There are established supply chains for oil, coal, and natural gas. With the energy transition, we need to forge new trading relationships through cross-border electricity trading. The EU has shown us that an integrated and multi-directional electricity trading market is possible. That is the vision of our ASEAN Power Grid.
7. Southeast Asia is a diverse region but all countries in ASEAN share the common goal of decarbonisation. By working collectively together on renewable energy projects, we can improve project bankability and accelerate deployment timelines. Governments should therefore collaborate closely to establish the regulatory frameworks, infrastructure, and the ecosystem that is needed to facilitate cross-border electricity trading.
8. Singapore has been actively working with like-minded partners on these efforts because we believe that electricity trading benefits all parties involved.
9. Last year, I shared that Singapore was collaborating with the United States on a Feasibility Study on Regional Energy Connectivity. We have almost completed the first phase of this study, which examined existing and potential power interconnections in ASEAN, as well as the socio-economic benefits of regional energy connectivity.
10. The findings will highlight the benefits that energy interconnections will bring to this region. This includes emissions reduction, lower capital and production costs, greater resource adequacy and power supply resilience, as well as economic benefits through the creation of green jobs.
11. I am pleased to announce that the US and Singapore are planning to embark on the second phase of the study, which will focus on governance and financing frameworks for implementing cross-border energy trading projects. We welcome more regional countries and multilateral partners to join us in this study.
12. But ASEAN is doing much more than just studying the possibility of cross-border electricity trading. The Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project that commenced in June last year has demonstrated that cross-border electricity trading across multiple countries can become a reality in Southeast Asia. Since its commencement, about 270 gigawatt hours of electricity has been exported to Singapore from Lao PDR. All four countries are now discussing how we can enhance this project, including trading at capacities beyond 100MW and facilitating electricity flows in all directions.
13. These developments have given Singapore the confidence to press on in our efforts to develop regional interconnectivity. The Energy Market Authority, or EMA, launched Requests for Proposals in 2021 to import up to 4GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035 from the region. This year, EMA has granted Conditional Approvals to import up to 3GW from Indonesia and Cambodia into Singapore.
14. I am indeed delighted and pleased to announce that EMA will also grant Conditional Approval to Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries Ltd, together with its partner, Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation. The electricity will primarily be from off-shore wind power, which Vietnam is blessed with. This Conditional Approval builds on the MOU on Energy Cooperation that we signed with Vietnam’s Government last year. With this latest development, we will be able to meet our goal of importing 4GW of low-carbon electricity when these projects are implemented.
15. We hope these projects will support the development of our broader ASEAN Power Grid. Given the good progress of this initiative so far, we are now studying the possibility of taking in more electricity import projects, taking into account energy security and cost considerations.
Maximising the Domestic Deployment of Renewable Energy
16. Beyond electricity imports, the second key ingredient in getting to net-zero is to maximise the domestic deployment of renewable energy. Unlike other countries, Singapore is small and alternative-energy disadvantaged. Despite this, we are pursuing all possibilities. Yesterday, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong spoke about the different low-carbon pathways which we are looking at seriously. Let me elaborate on two of them.
17. A recent study by Nature Communications found that solar power is set to dominate global electricity markets and may have already reached an irreversible tipping point. The International Energy Agency also expects investment in solar power to overtake oil for the first time in 2023 as clean energy spending outpaces fossil fuels spending. It is therefore not surprising that solar power plays an important role in many countries’ decarbonisation plans.
18. Singapore is no exception. Solar is the most viable source of renewable energy domestically. We have sought to maximise solar deployment, including on reservoirs and on temporarily vacant land. These efforts have made us one of the world’s most solar-dense cities.
19. Thanks to the combined efforts of Government and industry partners, Singapore has now surpassed 1 gigawatt-peak of solar deployment. This means that we are more than halfway towards achieving our target of 2 gigawatt-peak of solar deployment by 2030.
20. To get there, we are pursuing the next bound of innovative solar deployment. For example, HDB is testing the application of Building Applied Photovoltaics on public housing blocks. This will maximise the surfaces on which we can deploy solar. The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore is also conducting research into increasing the efficiency of perovskite and tandem solar cells. In June 2023, their researchers attained a world record efficiency of 24.35% for a perovskite solar cell, which brings us one step closer to high-efficiency yet cost-effective tandem solar cells.
21. Even with our best efforts to deploy solar energy domestically, it will still make up less than 10% of our future energy mix. Through our low-carbon electricity imports projects, we will also introduce more solar into the grid from beyond our shores. Within the 4GW of imports projects that we have issued Conditional Approval to thus far, solar energy will be the dominant source of renewable energy.
22. Singapore is also studying our domestic potential for harnessing deep underground heat to generate electricity. A recent exploratory study in Admiralty led by researchers from the Nanyang Technological University found that heat at a depth of 4 to 5 kilometers could be sufficient for electricity generation. To holistically assess Singapore’s deep geothermal resource potential, EMA issued a Request for Proposal last month to conduct a Singapore-wide non-invasive geophysical study. This same study will also help assess Singapore’s potential for underground carbon storage.
Leveraging R&D to Support Innovation
23. Even with these low-carbon options, Singapore still needs more research and development (R&D) to overcome our domestic constraints. This is our third key ingredient. Many clean energy technologies are still quite nascent. They require more investment from industry and government to demonstrate proof of concept and achieve commercial feasibility. In Singapore’s case, we also need to determine how such technologies can be deployed in our dense urban environment.
24. This year, we introduced the Directed Hydrogen Programme to support research that helps Singapore import and utilise hydrogen safely and economically. The specific areas of focus include hydrogen safety and regulatory standards, ammonia cracking and utilisation, as well as hydrogen transportation and distribution. A*STAR launched its grant call in August, and we look forward to receiving industry and academia’s proposals by the end of this month. When hydrogen can be deployed at scale, it will open up yet another pathway for Singapore to decarbonise. We have begun taking steps to build up our capabilities, via our ammonia pathfinder request for proposal that Minister Gan spoke about yesterday.
25. Other than hydrogen, A*STAR is also prepared to support areas of research with low Technology Readiness through its Emerging Technology Grant Call. If these early-stage investigations prove to be promising, these ideas can be further developed further through A*STAR’s other funding initiatives. With more practical solutions on the table, Singapore will have more options in our journey towards a low-carbon future.
Building a Resilient and Dynamic Grid
26. The fourth key ingredient to realising our net-zero ambitions is to build a resilient and dynamic grid. Today, the flow in the grid is primarily one-way. It brings electricity from our natural gas power plants to the rest of Singapore. In a future with different and decentralized generation sources – power plants, solar panels, imports, battery storage systems – we will need a grid that can cope with multi-directional flows to and from different parts of Singapore. Some countries experience grid congestion and are unable to cope with the introduction of new renewable energy sources. Their grids cannot bring clean energy to cities and industries where it is needed most.
27. Such a situation cannot happen in Singapore. We are therefore building up our capabilities to ensure that Singapore’s grid can cope with the energy transition. Let me share three innovative solutions that we are piloting.
28. First, digitalisation can play a key role in grid planning and management. That is why Singapore Power (SP) and NTU are developing a Digital Asset Twin for the grid. Through the use of sensors and AI, we can anticipate the likelihood of equipment failure with greater precision. Such early detection will improve grid resiliency and manpower productivity. SP targets to pilot this by 2025. If this solution proves to be cost-effective, it can potentially be applied across all of our 12,000 substations.
29. I shared earlier that we are making good progress in domestic solar deployment. To better manage the entry of small-scale Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as solar and electric vehicles in our grid, SP has launched a pilot for a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). This platform provides SP with real-time information and control capabilities to optimise DER connections. When fully developed, this system will allow the seamless integration of DERs into our grid, manage their impact to system reliability and costs, and reduce the risk of grid congestion that we see in other countries.
30. Third, consumers too have a role to play in ensuring that our grid remains fit for purpose. We often overlook the importance of demand management when it comes to energy security. But it is just as important as deploying clean energy. EMA is currently running a two-year sandbox where commercial and industrial consumers receive payments as an incentive for reducing their electricity demand at certain times of the day. Our demand-responsive load has increased 1.5 times since the start of the sandbox, and is around 100MW now.
31. Next year, I am happy to announce that demand response will be extended to households. EMA will partner SP to launch the Residential Demand Response (R-DR) pilot programme. This pilot offers households with smart meters a financial incentive to reduce electricity consumption whenever overall system demand is high. For example, households could choose to switch off their air-conditioning upon receiving a notification on their SP mobile application.
32. With the deployment and scale-up of such innovative solutions, we can progressively futureproof our grid in preparation for the energy transition.
Upskilling our Workers
33. This brings me to my final point on getting to net-zero – we cannot have clean power without a skilled workforce in the energy sector. Singapore’s move to a greener future also creates new job opportunities for Singaporeans. We must invest in skills development to help our workers seize these opportunities.
34. In 2024, EMA will work with government agencies, training providers, and the Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE) to develop a set of clean energy core competencies for workers, so that they will be well equipped for growth areas such as solar energy and energy storage systems.
35. The Government, together with businesses and educational institutions, is already offering programs to help workers develop the skills they need. I encourage all employees to ride the green wave, and their companies to support them to do so.
Conclusion
36. Ladies and Gentlemen, the road to a clean energy future is not easy. But time and again, when confronted with grave challenges, humankind can rise to the challenge. Decarbonisation starts with the choices we make today.
37. For Singapore, despite our natural limitations in size and natural resources, we are committed to decarbonising our power sector and to fulfilling our 2050 net-zero ambitions. All of us – government, industry, academia, international organisations, citizens – must come together to tackle climate change. Let us all do our part.
38. I look forward to hearing the views of our distinguished speakers on what more all of us can do together to harness clean energy and get to net-zero.
39. Thank you.