Singapore lines up 1.4 GW of solar imports from Indonesia, ups goal

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore announced Thursday it has granted conditional approvals to two projects to import 1.4 GW of low-carbon electricity from Indonesia.

In addition, EMA said it will seek to import around 6 GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035, raising the initial target of 4 GW that was set in 2021.

French multi-energy group TotalEnergies SE (EPA:TTE) and Singapore-headquartered RGE have secured conditional approval to import 1 GW of solar energy from Indonesia to Singapore, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday. Singapore’s Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Tan See Leng, announced the award to the two companies' joint venture Singa Renewables Pte Ltd at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum 2024 in Jakarta on September 5.

TotalEnergies and RGE said they are now accelerating the development of the project, which will harness Indonesia’s solar resources to export clean energy to Singapore and will also supply solar energy domestically to power green industrial complexes in the Riau Province of Indonesia.

RGE manages a group of resource-based manufacturing companies with global operations. It is involved in businesses such as pulp and paper, and palm oil.

Olivier Jouny, senior vice president for renewables at TotalEnergies, said that the partnership will contribute to Singapore and Indonesia’s energy transition goals. “This project is aligned with TotalEnergies’ integrated power strategy aimed at delivering clean firm power through a combination of solar and battery energy storage system to its corporate customers via corporate power purchase agreement,” Jouny added.

At the same time, Singapore-based renewables company Vena Energy and Shell Eastern Trading Pte Ltd have obtained conditional approval to export 400 MW of solar power from the Riau Islands, Indonesia, to Singapore, they announced separately.

The project is expected to produce over 2.6 TWh a year. It will consist of more than 2 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and 8 GWh of utility-scale battery energy storage systems, providing Singapore with “a dispatchable green energy solution based on semi-firm supply of renewable power,” Vena Energy explained.

“Vena Energy is committed to supporting Singapore in achieving its renewable energy targets whilst also supporting the development of a renewable energy manufacturing supply chain in Indonesia,” said Nitin Apte, CEO of Vena Energy.

The news follows the signing of a collaboration agreement in August 2023 between Vena Energy and Shell.

SINGAPORE’S LOW-CARBON ELECTRICITY IMPORT PLANS

Singapore is looking to import low-carbon electricity to help decarbonise its power sector, which currently accounts for about 40% of the island country’s carbon emissions. Singapore has now increased its import ambition to around 6 GW in view of the strong interest from credible parties to take part in electricity import projects and in order to ensure adequate supply to meet Singapore’s future energy needs, EMA said.

The two newly announced conditional approvals follow the granting of such approvals last year to five projects to import 2 GW of solar power from Indonesia.

On Thursday, it also announced the granting of conditional licences to these five Indonesia-based projects based on progress made by them since the awards of the conditional approvals. The projects are now at an advanced developmental stage. When the obligations in the conditional licences are met, they would be issued an electricity importer licence to commence construction and commercial operations.

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