Opening Remarks by MOS Gan Siow Huang at Youth@SIEW 2025 Singapore International Energy Week 2025

Welcome and introduction

1.    Good morning to all of you. Actually, I have been here for the whole week since Monday. I am happy to support our colleagues and friends at EMA, main organiser of SIEW.

2.    I wanted to say this room alone – this is my third time here. One was for the ASEAN-France Forum, the other was Singapore-Sweden Forum. I am quite sure that besides these two forums, there were many other exciting events that took place in this room and other exhibitions halls that were for SIEW this week. So much energy and if you ask me, it is quite electrifying.

3.    I hope you are ready for this discovery – discovery of the career pathways and what the power and energy sector mean for Singapore and the world.

4.    I'm glad to see so many students who are gathered here today. I was told that in the past, this event would involve a much larger group of students but this time round, the organiser felt that it was better to have a smaller group to be able to have closer interactions and to be able to bring you on learning journeys that would give you more in depth understanding and more interactions with one another as well as with the industry partners that are hosting or helping to support this event.

5.    The theme for this year’s SIEW is “Envisioning Energy Tomorrow, Building Systems Today”, basically we are envisioning energy for tomorrow, but we have to start building today. Because where energy systems and energy transition is concern, it is a very long path. It involves a lot of visioning, planning, infrastructure development, talent development, financing, getting the resources right, down to the implementation, and not forgetting regulation. It requires long term investment, and that is why for Singapore, we have to start building the systems today, so that we are ready for the future.

6.    Talking about the future, you are the future. We always say that, and we mean it – the future is about the youth who are here today.

7.    Whether you are just starting your academic journey or about to graduate, stepping into the workforce brings both excitement and uncertainty. 

8.    Given the rapid development in AI and automation, you might wonder: "Will the jobs and skills today remain relevant in the next five years?" 

9.    Allow me to share some perspectives that might be useful for you as you consider a career in the power sector. 

a.    First, the prospects for the power sector.

b.    Second, impact of energy transition on opportunities in this sector. What is new and coming up. 

c.    Third, training and support that is available for workers to acquire new skills. When I say acquire new skills, I mean continuing education and training beyond school – when you have graduated from the IHLs, when you have entered the workforce. Given all the developments in the power and energy sector, we always need new skills and knowledge. Continuing the training and education will be quite key in this sector.

Prospects for the power sector 

10. First of all, on the prospects of the power sector. 

11. According to EMA's 2025 Energy Sector Manpower Survey, the power sector’s workforce grew 4% from 2022-2024, this is an increase of about 310 workers.

a.    Professionals with technical expertise were especially in demand. 

b.    Engineers saw close to 13% growth, while skilled technical officers increased by almost 7%. These numbers may not be earthshaking, but for Singapore, it really is a big thing because our workforce itself, especially the local workforce’s growth is slowing down. You would know that our TFR for many years has been stagnating, even declining. For us, we are really trying to maximise the potential of the local workforce. And yet, for the power sector, we saw growth of 13% for engineers and 7% for skilled technical officers. So, against this local challenging workforce landscape, we still grew amongst the engineers and skilled technical officers in the power sector.

12. The power sector is expected to continue expanding and hiring in the coming decade. 

a.    From 2024 to 2034, the traditional power and gas workforce is expected to grow by around 13% or 800 workers. This is not surprising given that natural gas will continue to be a core part of Singapore’s energy mix. We just committed on building a second LNG terminal.

b.    In that same period, the clean energy workforce is expected to grow by approximately 60% or around 1000 workers. We are pivoting towards cleaner energy sources and we will need more people with new skills.

New Career Opportunities

13. On to my second point – the impact of energy transition on opportunities in the power sector. Energy transition is a buzz word these days, it is related to climate change, environment sustainability, net-zero. This energy transition is powering a lot of changes in the sector here.

14. Singapore is doing our part to tackle climate change. Our goal is to achieve net zero by 2050. The power sector, which accounts for about 40% of our total greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore, is undergoing transition to reduce its carbon footprint. The sector needs more talent and skilled workforce to support the decarbonisation efforts. Think about it, 40% of the carbon emissions come from this sector, there is a lot we can do to bring it down. It is not going to be trivial because the amount of energy and electricity that Singapore needs in the next 10 years to be able to continue to growth our economy – have data centres, AI, robotics, and still trying to contain or bring down the carbon emissions from this sector – it is going to take a lot of effort. The government cannot do this by ourselves, industries left to themselves also cannot do it by their own. We need all hands on deck, we need good people, we need talent to help us achieve the decarbonisation journey.

15. Based on EMA’s Workforce Planning Study, new job roles and skillsets will grow in demand.

a.    This includes jobs such as solar PV design and asset performance engineers, and specialists working on design, operation and maintenance of subsea interconnectors. 

b.    Opportunities in new areas like carbon capture and storage, and low-carbon fuels will also grow. By the way, these are jobs I have never heard of when I was fresh out of university 30 years ago. Now, we are talking about carbon capture, energy transition – exciting new world of jobs. 

16. To support students and mid-career professionals in navigating emerging opportunities, EMA has refreshed the Clean Energy Jobs-Skills Insights. 

a.    This highlights the trends, jobs, and skillsets that are in demand across the energy sector.

b.    It will also complement structured career pathways in the Skills Framework for Energy and Power that was jointly developed by EMA, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), and Workforce Singapore (WSG). This skills framework has to be constantly updated because the technologies are changing, the new types of energy sources are being introduced to our energy ecosystem. So, the Skills Framework, similarly, has to get updated very regularly.

17. The resources are intended to help Singaporeans make informed decisions as they embark on a career in the energy sector. I encourage you to look through these resources. 

Training and support

18. My third point is on training options and the support for workers. 

19. I mentioned earlier about how energy transition will reshape jobs and skills that are needed. 

20. Our companies have been investing in their people, and preparing them to take on higher-value roles. I will give you a few examples. 

a.    Keppel has grown its skilled workforce in the integrated power operations by 30% and also invested over 3,650 training hours for their next-generation energy systems through joint training initiatives and job rotations.

b.    Sembcorp Solar Singapore, another company, is the first SkillsFuture Queen Bee in the sector, and they are partnering with Singapore Polytechnic to enhance local solar industry capabilities, including training up to 100 professionals by 2027 in digital system design and data-driven performance analysis.

21. In addition, EMA has been working closely with our IHLs and industry partners to build strong bridges between work and study, this is to make it easier to join the sector and to upskill.

a.    EMA has also partnered Ngee Ann Polytechnic on a revised curriculum for Diploma in Electrical Engineering and also with the Institute of Technical Education, which has introduced a new Technical Engineer Diploma in Electrical Engineering. These will train our students in essential engineering skills and emerging clean energy areas, qualifying them for Licensed Electrical Technician (LET) applications.

b.    More broadly, for Licensed Electrical Workers (LEWs), EMA is introducing an Internship Training Plan to provide clarity on the work experience requirements that would prepare student interns to attain the LEW license.

c.    EMA is also facilitating internships and mentorships to connect you directly with industry partners, some of them are here. I am pleased to note that approximately 40 internships and 20 job opportunities are available today.

22. In addition to preparing for new types of jobs and skill sets, our companies are also improving processes and reimagining systems.

23. Another group that is worth mentioning is SP Group. They are transforming the maintenance of its underground electricity cable tunnels through robotics and digitalization.

a.    The maintenance team is training its robotic dog called Spock. Equipped with video and thermal cameras, the SPock smart dog can navigate tunnels on its own, flagging defects and logging reports of its findings. This used to be done by humans – could be dangerous, dirty and uncomfortable. Now we use robotics to help us do this in a more safer and sustainable way.

b.    It improves productivity as well, and frees up the maintenance team, the humans, to focus on higher value work. Sometimes I’ve asked – will AI and robotics replace workers and that there will be less jobs. I am frankly not worried about that. Firstly, we are already short of workers. The more we can introduce automation, robotics, AI, we can reduce the total number of manual labour that we need to get the job done. Secondly, we can free up our skilled and talented Singaporean workers to do higher value jobs. I hope that in turn, we can attract more to join this sector. This is the way it should be, and this is the way to go. I think it is the right thing for us to do to be able to meet the talent and skilled labour pool. There is so much needed for this sector.

24. I want to bring up another example, and that is YTL PowerSeraya. YTL PowerSeraya has introduced advanced drone technology for remote tank inspections and plans to extend this to inspecting solar panels and other power plant assets.

25. I am sure that if we work with our companies to adopt such forward-thinking mindsets and solutions, we can prepare for a future workplace with jobs that are not just relevant, but also able to attract to youths and Singaporeans to this sector. 

Closing

26. Let me end by thanking IHLs – especially the teachers and staff who (brought) the students here and create this opportunity for them to learn. Of course, I would like to thank our industry partners, including SP Group and YTL PowerSeraya, for opening your doors to host  the learning journeys that give our students first-hand experience on how this sector is evolving.

27. Students from ITE College West, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, and Singapore Institute of Technology are here today and participated in the learning journeys. I hope you found this experience interesting and inspiring. I hope you had the opportunity to engage in insightful conversations with industry professionals and understand the importance of the work done in this sector. I understand that many of you also learned about the diverse roles in power generation and grid operations, which would have broadened your perspective on the range of career opportunities available in the energy sector.

28. I encourage students to explore the resources available – whether is it online or offline and even at SIEW, speak with industry professionals here today, and consider how you might contribute to Singapore's energy transformation. Your career in energy could very well begin today and consider the impact you can make that could last for many generations. If you join this sector,  just be prepared for many changes, exciting ones, and know that this could change the world, this can save the world. You are very privilege to be able to make it here and to be able to go through the learning journeys. Seize the opportunity. Know that it is something that is meaningful and impactful and who knows, you may have an electrifying career. Thank you and all the best.