Singapore Looks to Have More Gas-Fired Power Plants to Meet Rising Demand

Singapore is seeking proposals from companies to build and operate two new natural gas-fired power plants by the end of the decade as it looks to have more generation capacity to meet soaring electricity demand.

Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) launched on Tuesday a second Request for Proposal for new electricity generation capacity, inviting companies to build, own, and operate two new hydrogen-ready Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) generating units to be ready in 2029 and 2030 respectively. Each generating unit is expected to be at least 600 megawatts (MW) in generation capacity, EMA said.  

The authority’s proposal comes on the heels of data that Singapore’s electricity demand has been steadily increasing over the years, driven largely by electricity-intensive sectors such as the advanced manufacturing, digital economy, and transport sectors.

Based on EMA’s projections, Singapore’s power system peak demand is expected to grow by at least 3.7% over the next six years, reaching between 10.1 gigawatts (GW) and 11.8 GW by 2030.

“As Singapore’s electricity demand continues to grow, it is crucial that we ensure we have sufficient generation capacity to power our homes, workplaces, and communities,” said Ngiam Shih Chun, Chief Executive of EMA.

Last week, Singapore unveiled a Green Data Centre (DC) Roadmap that charts a sustainable pathway for the continued growth of data centers in the Asian country. The Roadmap aims to provide at least 300 MW of additional capacity in the near term, with much more through green energy deployments. The higher capacity is aimed at supporting Singapore’s ambitions for the digital economy, the authorities said.

Currently, Singapore has over 1.4 GW of data center capacity, and is home to more than 70 cloud, enterprise, and co-location data centers, which host cloud platforms, digital services, and higher-intensity workloads for AI.

Yet, the roadmap is unlikely to preserve Singapore’s leadership in data centers, considering that neighboring emerging markets are expecting over 2,500 MW of data center capacity in the near term, said BMI, a Fitch Solutions company.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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