S’pore doubles electricity imports through regional grid; more power to come from Malaysia

SINGAPORE - Singapore will be doubling its electricity imports capacity via a regional power grid, after an extension of the multilateral deal – which enabled Singapore to import hydropower from Laos via Thailand and Malaysia – initially hit a roadblock.

Additional energy supply will come from Malaysia, increasing the total electricity import capacity to 200MW via the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore (LTMS) power integration project, up from 100MW currently, said Keppel and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) in a joint statement on Sept 20.

However, it is not clear whether the electricity will come from renewable sources.

A spokesman for EMA said that the electricity from Malaysia is from its national grid, which comprises a mix of generation sources.

According to the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association, coal accounted for more than 43 per cent of Malaysia’s electricity production in 2023, compared to natural gas at 36 per cent and hydropower at nearly 17 per cent.

In 2022, Singapore started importing up to 100MW of hydropower from Laos via existing inter-connectors between the four countries. 

But on Sept 20, EMA would only say that the new development will “strengthen grid resilience and promote energy integration to meet the rising electricity demand in the region”.

This comes as Reuters reported in mid-July that an extension of the deal had been stuck amid disagreements over how the energy will be transmitted through Thailand and Malaysia, and the quantity of power to be purchased.

EMA told The Straits Times on Sept 13 that it had already approved the second phase of the project but needed approval from all governments involved to proceed.

To support the next phase of the import project, EMA has granted Keppel an extension of its electricity import licence for another two years, to 2026.

This means that in addition to being able to import electricity from Laos, Keppel will be importing electricity from Malaysia.

Both organisations said that the LTMS project is crucial to advancing the Asean power grid and the Asean economic community.

“By creating opportunities for multilateral and multidirectional electricity trading in the region, the enhanced (LTMS project) will strengthen grid resilience and promote energy integration to meet the rising electricity demand in the region,” said Keppel and EMA.

Singapore recently announced that it would increase its electricity import goal from 4 gigawatts (GW) to 6GW by 2035 after giving the green light to import 1.4GW of additional solar power from Indonesia.

With the new deals, 5.6GW of electricity will be imported – from Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam – accounting for around 30 per cent of Singapore’s energy needs by 2035.

Of these, 3.4GW will come from Indonesia.

EMA said that it is also prepared to consider additional clean energy imports, especially if these projects enable Singapore to work together with its neighbours to develop the Asean power grid – which essentially connects the grids of the region to facilitate power trading.

Dr Victor Nian, founding co-chairman of think-tank Centre for Strategic Energy and Resources, said that importing electricity from Malaysia is important for diversification and driving regional collaboration, but the region needs to move towards a multilateral power trading framework to form a regional power market.

This entails having a proper governance framework in place to ensure the transparency, efficiency and smooth operation of the Asean power grid.