Projects to Create Green Grid, CCS Hubs Across ASEAN, Australia

National authorities and companies across Southeast Asia and Australia are seeking ways to pool renewable energy resources and form a green power grid in the region, according to media reports.

Below are some of the projects engaged in developing this green grid that have been announced:

ASEAN

• Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are working to implement a regional power grid with the first 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity under a Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore power integration project expected to flow in 2022.
• Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) is pursuing carbon capture storage (CCS) hubs across Asia and has started talks with countries on potential storage options for carbon dioxide.

AUSTRALIA

• Australia-Asia PowerLink, one of the world’s largest renewable energy projects with an estimated cost of more than A$30 billion ($22.39 billion), will export energy from the world’s largest solar farm and battery storage facility in Australia’s northern territory to Singapore beginning in 2027.
• Construction of the Australia-Asia PowerLink is expected to begin in late 2023, with the first supply of electricity to the city of Darwin in 2026 and the first electricity to Singapore in 2027, before reaching full capacity by the end of 2028. read more
• Sun cable, an Australian-Singapore venture, will invest $2.5 billion in Indonesia as part of the Australia-Asia PowerLink project to provide Singapore with up to 15% of its energy requirements.
• Singapore’s Keppel Renewable Energy Pte Ltd marked its first solar farm project after signing in December 2020 an agreement to acquire a 45% stake in Harlin Solar Pty Ltd to develop a large-scale, greenfield solar farm in Queensland, Australia.

INDONESIA

• Gallant Venture has struck a joint venture agreement with electricity retail company Pacificlight Power to develop a solar photovoltaics plant on Indonesia’s Bulan island and supply renewable energy to Singapore, just to the north, via a recently granted 100 MW conditional import license from Singapore’s Energy Market Authority.
• Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries and Indonesia’s PLN Batam and PT Trisurya Mitra Bersama (Suryagen) agreed to develop a 1 gigawatt-peak (GWp) integrated solar and energy storage project in Indonesia’s Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK) region.
• Companies led by Singapore’s Sunseap Group signed a memorandum of understanding to develop solar power systems with a combined 7 GWp capacity in the neighbouring Riau islands of Indonesia to provide electricity for the city-state.
• The Sunseap-led plans include a previously announced 2.2 GWp floating solar farm on Batam island, part of the Riau archipelago south of Singapore.

SINGAPORE

• Singapore plans to import up to 4 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity by 2035, or about 30% of its total supply to diversify supply and boost energy security.
• Utility YTL PowerSeraya was appointed as the electricity importer for a two-year trial to import 100 megawatts of electricity from Malaysia into Singapore from early 2022 through existing interconnectors.
• Singapore plans to launch standardised guidelines for renewable energy certificates, part of efforts to decarbonise its power sector and develop a regional grid.
• Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) and JTC Corporation (JTC) will launch a S$6 million ($4.46 million) request for proposal to test renewable energy, energy storage systems and low carbon solutions on its Jurong Island.