SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Tuas Power has joined a growing list of companies planning renewable energy imports as Singapore looks to diversify its electricity supply and cut emissions.
Tuas Power announced on Friday (Oct 1) that it has tied up with Indonesia Power and EDF Renewables to develop a framework for importing electricity from Indonesia.
EDF Renewables is a wholly-owned unit of low carbon energy firm EDF Group. Indonesia Power is a subsidiary of PLN (Persero), which operates power plants in Indonesia.
The memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday includes a proposed 1,000 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar photovoltaic plant, feasibility studies in Indonesia and its grid connection to Singapore, as well as the development of technical solutions to address issues of supply intermittency and transmission stability, Tuas Power said.
Several moves have been made to propel Singapore towards importing from greener sources in the region.
In March, the Energy Market Authority sought proposals to appoint an importer for a two-year trial to bring in electricity from Malaysia, preferably from low-carbon sources. It said it would reject proposals for electricity from coal-fired generation.
In the same month, solar energy provider Sunseap said it was forming a joint venture with Malaysia's largest utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to trial the import of electricity from Malaysia.
Singapore will import 100 MW of power generated from renewable energy sources. If successful, the joint venture will invest in multiple solar farms across Malaysia and other forms of clean energy such as hydroelectricity, from TNB's existing plants.
More recently, Keppel Electric, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Infrastructure Holdings, signed an agreement with Laos state-owned company Electricite Du Laos (EDL) to jointly explore opportunities in importing renewable energy to Singapore.
EDL will export up to 100 MW of renewable hydropower from Laos to Singapore via Thailand and Malaysia using existing interconnectors under a trial scheme.
