How Singapore can accelerate renewable energy project development and financing in Southeast Asia

Learn how Singapore’s reliability, connectivity, finance hub status and clean energy ecosystem can help project developers in Southeast Asia

By Lim Wey-Len 20 May 2024 4 min read

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Southeast Asia (SEA) is now at a critical cusp of growth for renewables. A report published by EDB and led by McKinsey forecasts that the annual renewable capacity addition for solar and wind power must increase by seven to 12 times for the region to achieve its net-zero goals¹. On a similar note, the International Energy Agency has projected that the clean energy investments in SEA will need to quadruple to US$120 billion (S$160 billion) dollars by 2030².

There are three ways Singapore can help to deepen capabilities for renewable energy project development and financing in this region.

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Singapore as a reliable regional hub for RE projects

First, Singapore is well-connected to project opportunities in SEA and the wider Asia Pacific region. We have also announced a target to import up to 4 GW of low carbon electricity by 2035 and have signed MOUs with neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia to advance cooperations on importing renewable energy. This has allowed companies like Sembcorp Industries to partner with PetroVietnam on the development of offshore wind farms in Vietnam, and to plan for the import of up to 1.2 GW of low-carbon electricity to Singapore³.

Singapore also serves as the Asia Pacific headquarters of more than 100 international and local clean energy companies. EDP Renewables APAC is one such company that has setup their Asia Pacific headquarters here. They see the region as the world’s fastest-growing market for renewables and have since announced their commitment to invest S$10 billion by 2030 into the region through Singapore. This is a testament to our status as a reliable and credible hub for companies to develop renewable energy projects and manage their regional operations.

Speakers and panellists at the launch of ‘Powering Progress in Southeast Asia’s Renewables Development’ , a report published by EDB and led by McKinsey, on 4 April 2024. From L-Jasper Wong, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate & Hospitality and Construction & Infrastructure, United Overseas Bank; Vishal Agarwal, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Gayle Tan, Project Director, Infrastructure Asia; Kai Ngian, Head of Energy and Utilities, Clifford Capital; Antonio Castellano, McKinsey & Company; Thomas Baudlot, Chief Executive Officer, ENGIE South East Asia; Lim Wey-Len, EVP, EDB; Yoon Young Kim, Cluster President for Singapore and Brunei, Schneider Electric.

Singapore as a world-class green financing hub

Second, given the amount of green investments required in SEA, financing will be a critical element. This is where Singapore, as an international financial hub for sustainable development, can play a key role. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has announced the formation of a blended finance platform, Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership, at COP-28 to mobilise up to US$5 billion of capital across three key themes of energy transition, green investments and clean technologies. We encourage companies to leverage Singapore’s strengths as a green financing hub to tap on the wide range of world-class financial institutions here, such as UOB and Clifford Capital to support investments into renewables.

Deep clean energy ecosystem

Finally, Singapore has built up a vibrant ecosystem of companies across the value chain ranging from clean energy solution providers, project and legal advisories and financiers that can support the development and execution of renewables projects in the region. We are also home to world-class R&D centres such as Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore at NUS, which specialises in high efficiency and next generation solar cell systems, as well as the Energy Research Institute at NTU, a leader in domains such as smart grids, energy storage systems and other low-carbon technologies. This has attracted global clean-tech companies such ENGIE to set up R&D teams here to collaborate with our institutes on renewable energy integration and microgrid R&D.

EDB has also partnered with Schneider Electric to launch NaviX Solutions, a new business venture which provides full lifecycle management for enterprise power and cooling assets through an Infrastructure-as-a-Service model.

These are some insights on how Singapore can support your ambitions to capture new opportunities in the growing renewable energy sector in SEA. Our partnership with industry leaders will be ever critical to drive renewables deployment and to accelerate SEA’s transition into a low-carbon future.

Lim Wey-Len is Executive Vice President of Green Economy at the Singapore Economic Development Board. This article was adapted from his speech at the launch of "Powering Progress in Southeast Asia’s Renewables Development".

Footnotes:

¹ McKinsey Report: Powering progress in Southeast Asia’s renewables development

²International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2023

³EMA grants conditional approval for 1.2GW of Electricity Imports from Vietnam, https://www.ema.gov.sg/news-events/news/media-releases/2023/ema-grants-conditional-approval-for-one-point-two-gigawatts-of-electricity-imports-from-vietnam, 24 Oct 2023.