SINGAPORE: Keppel Energy has been granted conditional approval by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to import 1 gigawatt (GW) of electricity from Cambodia to Singapore, the statutory board announced on Thursday (Mar 16).
The proposal will see the imported electricity harnessing solar energy, hydropower, and potentially wind power, supported by battery energy storage systems or pumped storage hydropower, said EMA in a media release.
It will be transmitted from Cambodia to Singapore via new subsea cables of more than 1,000km. In response to CNA’s queries, a Keppel Infrastructure spokesperson said the project will require the enhancement of existing infrastructure and the building of new infrastructure.
“The planning and implementation are multi-step processes, including Environmental Impact Assessment, and are subject to future development works, which could be undertaken by separate consortia,” said the spokesperson.
The conditional approval for Keppel Energy is the first to be awarded by EMA for large-scale electricity imports, an EMA spokesperson told CNA. It marks a “significant milestone” in Singapore’s ambition to import up to 4GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035, EMA said.
As part of the move, Keppel Energy on Wednesday signed a long-term Power Purchase and Export Agreement with Cambodia’s Royal Group Power (RGP), for RGP to supply and export and Keppel to import utility-scale low-carbon electricity into Singapore.
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Wednesday, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said that the partnership between Keppel and RGP demonstrates the “strong commercial interest and viability” of renewable energy co-development projects for cross-border electricity trade.
Subject to requisite regulatory and other approvals, the electricity import from Cambodia is expected to commence post-2030, said Keppel in a press release.
Singapore and Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Energy Cooperation in October last year.