Sembcorp unit wins conditional approval to import 1 GW of hydropower from Sarawak
Expected to start commercial operations around 2035, the project contributes to Singapore’s plans to import 6 GW of clean power by 2035
[SINGAPORE] Sembcorp Utilities, a unit of renewables player Sembcorp Industries, has received conditional approval from Singapore’s energy regulator to import one gigawatt (GW) of hydropower from Sarawak, Malaysia.
The project is expected to start commercial operations around 2035.
The approval marks a “new phase of energy partnership between both nations”, said Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) in a press statement on Friday (Oct 17).
Sembcorp Utilities had earlier inked an agreement with Sarawak Energy and sub-sea cable maker Prysmian to work on the design, installation method and protection needs of the interconnection.
“EMA has preliminarily assessed the consortium’s project proposal to be technically and commercially viable in supplying electricity from hydropower in Sarawak to Singapore,” the regulator said in Friday’s press statement.
The conditional approval – which precedes a conditional licence – provides Sembcorp and its partners with regulatory support from EMA to develop the project.
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The consortium will next have to secure all approvals from the relevant jurisdictions, including the countries through which the transmission cables will pass.
Singapore aims to import 6 GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035. It had previously awarded conditional approvals and licences for 7.35 GW worth of clean power import projects from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia.
The Sarawak approval was marked by two ceremonies on Friday. The first, in Singapore, involved Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and Sarawak Premier Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari.
The second ceremony was held at the sidelines of the Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting in Kuala Lumpur. It was attended by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Amar Fadillah Yusof and Dr Tan See Leng, Singapore’s minister-in-charge of energy and science and technology.
The power sector accounts for 40 per cent of Singapore’s carbon emissions. To decarbonise the sector, EMA will continue to engage all companies with “credible and commercially viable” energy import proposals.
