Chinese energy companies are poised to play an important role in Southeast Asia’s ambitious green transition plans, which will see countries across the region integrate their power grids, according to a senior Singaporean official.
The strategy could eventually lead to a cross-regional network running all the way from Singapore to southern China via nations including Malaysia and Thailand, according to Puah Kok Keong, chief executive of the Energy Market Authority of Singapore – the city state’s top energy regulator.
“I think that possibility is very real,” Puah told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
Grid integration will be vital if Singapore is to meet its decarbonisation goals. The city state currently relies on natural gas for 95 per cent of its power generation. With its scarce land, it has set a target of importing up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity by 2035 – enough to cover roughly one-third of its power needs, Puah said.
The effort will open up new opportunities for Chinese companies, which enjoy technological dominance in several related fields and are already involved in major projects in the region, according to the official.
Singapore has been working to advance cross-regional energy cooperation, including through a project to transmit up to 100 megawatts of hydropower from Laos to Singapore via Thailand and Malaysia using existing interconnectors.
Entities across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia have also signed several agreements over the past year to jointly develop renewable energy projects and ease trade in low-carbon electricity.
China is “quite clearly the world leader” not only in deploying solar power and smart-grid energy storage solutions, but also in producing and exporting the core technology used in such systems, according to Puah.
When developers are looking to build solar-and-battery projects, the “fast, affordable and reliable” suppliers “tend to be Chinese companies”, he said.
Chinese firms have recently confirmed deals to deliver several major energy infrastructure projects in the region.
In October, CRE International – a unit of the China National Nuclear Corporation – signed an agreement with Singapore’s Equator Renewables Asia to build a solar photovoltaic facility with a maximum capacity of 900MW and a 1.2-gigawatt-hour battery storage system in Indonesia.
The project is set to be completed by 2029 and will generate 830GWh of clean energy annually. CRE International will invest in, construct and operate the project, Equator announced via its website.
Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, meanwhile, will supply half of the battery storage systems for another massive solar-and-battery project in Indonesia, which is slated to export 300MW of clean electricity directly to Singapore once operational.
The tie-ups between China’s energy firms and countries across Southeast Asia should prove mutually beneficial, Puah said.
Singapore will gain access to low-carbon electricity, while neighbouring countries will receive investment into their energy sector and a boost to their export revenues, he explained. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
