Singapore Gets Its First Renewable Energy Import From Laos

Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) has said that the country has begun to import renewable energy from Laos through Thailand and Malaysia. The authority held that this is the first such transfer of RE into Singapore.

In September 2021, a power purchase agreement (PPA) was signed between Keppel Electric of Singapore and Electricite du Laos (EDL), a state owned entity of Laos. It is under this PPA that the present transfer of renewable energy has taken place.

The PPA holds that up to 100 MW of green and clean energy will reach Singapore from Laos. The transfer will take place through the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore power integration project (LTMS-PIP). The authority also informed that the import signifies the first multilateral cross-border electricity trade involving four ASEAN countries.

Singapore has also imported renewable energy for the first time. According to EMA, the imported energy would satisfy 1.5 per cent of the peak electricity demand of Singapore. Through LTMS-PIP, Singapore aims to import up to 4 GW of clean electricity by 2035. EMA aspires to import power from other sources as well.

Keppel Electric of Singapore has been the first player to have got a licence from EMA to import power from other countries. YTL PowerSeraya, power producer based in Singapore, will be conducting a pilot project to import 100 MW from the neighboring country of Malaysia, but the energy would not be renewable.

4GW Demand from Neighbours

Recently, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) issued a request for proposals (RFP) to the import of 4 GW of renewable energy from sources based in the neighboring countries. All the proposals for projects in Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand will be included in the novel 4 GW tender.

In January, 2021, Masdar or Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company signed an agreement with EDF, PT Indonesia Power and Tuas Power of Singapore to develop renewable energy in Indonesia for the exports to Singapore.