Two joint development agreements (JDAs) were signed yesterday by Singaporean companies for the import of solar energy from Indonesia.

One of the agreements was inked by Sembcorp Industries with Batam's utility company PLN Batam and Indonesian renewable energy developer Trisurya Mitra Bersama (Suryagen).

Sembcorp said in a statement that the companies will develop a large-scale integrated solar and energy storage project in Indonesia's Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK) region.

The project consists of an approximately 1 gigawatt-peak (1GWp) of solar power generation capability and a large-scale energy storage system in BBK to manage the intermittency for clean energy deployment and export, Sembcorp said.

The other JDA was signed between PacificLight Power (PLP), a Singapore-based power generation and electricity retail company, and a consortium comprising Medco Power Indonesia, an independent power producer, and Gallant Venture, a Salim Group company, for a 100MW pilot solar import project from Indonesia to Singapore.

Both JDA signing ceremonies were presided over by Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, and Mr Arifin Tasrif, Indonesia's Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources.

At a separate media briefing, Dr Tan said Indonesia and Singapore must work closely together to develop the renewable energy sector in their respective countries and across the region.

Dr Tan said: "We encourage more Singapore and Indonesian companies to work together to facilitate more such projects which have great potential to bring in good jobs and good investments."

Mr Tasrif said that Indonesia has been blessed with an abundance of renewable energy sources, even though the use of renewables is still very small.

"We have a couple of hundred gigawatts of potential renewable energy sources, but Indonesia only uses 2.5 per cent of that," he said, adding that Indonesia is willing to share its renewable potential with neighbouring countries such as Singapore.

The agreements were inked on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week, where Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong announced Singapore's plan to import around 30 per cent of its electricity from low-carbon sources, such as renewable energy plants, by 2035.