Singapore facilitates renewable power imports from Cambodia, Indonesia

March 20 (Renewables Now) - Singapore, which plans to import up to 4 GW of low-carbon power by 2035, last week announced a couple of steps it has made to import electricity from both Cambodia and Indonesia.

The Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) has authorised a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation (SGX:BN4) to import 1 GW of renewable power from Cambodia.

Keppel Energy, a fully-owned unit of Keppel Infrastructure Holdings Pte Ltd, said in a statement that this makes it the first company to receive such clearance and added that it had just signed a long-term power purchase and export agreement (PPEA) with Cambodia’s Royal Group Power Company Ltd (RGP). The contract is pending certain regulatory and other approvals and is expected to become effective post-2030.

The two sides plan to transmit the electricity, mainly solar complemented by hydro and potentially wind, via high-voltage onshore overhead transmission lines and subsea transmission cables. The renewable energy sources will be supported by pumped-storage hydro and batteries.

The imports from Cambodia will come in addition to previously-disclosed plans to import electricity from Laos. On that matter, Keppel noted that good progress has been made under the binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in October with Thai construction company PSG Corporation PCL (BKK:PSG) to jointly explore renewable energy opportunities and cross-border interconnections with Laos.

In the meantime, the office of Singapore’s Prime Minister and the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment have entered into a MoU on renewable energy cooperation. The pact facilitates the establishment of a framework for commercial cooperation on the development of renewables, transmission infrastructure and cross-border electricity trading, an official announcement says without giving more details.