The government sees the majority of electricity coming through investments in renewable generation in neighbouring countries, with projects already in agreements to bring power from Indonesia, Viet Nam and Cambodia. Ember’s analysis shows that doubling the scale of the planned developments out to 2035 would put Singapore on track to delivering its climate targets, as well as reducing dependence on gas imports with the attendant price volatility.
Along with energy imports, renewables will reach 40% of Singapore’s power in 2035, up from just 4% today under the Singapore Green Plan 2030. This includes the generation of domestic solar that will grow fivefold from 1 TWh in 2023 to 5.1 TWh in 2035, meeting about 6% of electricity demand under current plans. However, fossil gas will still fuel the rest of power, hindering Singapore’s decarbonisation plans and missing the opportunity to decouple economic growth from emissions.
With a projected annual electricity demand growth of 3%, Singapore’s gas imports and carbon emissions could potentially continue rising, with plans for gas use risking further fossil lock-in. Instead, Singapore has the opportunity to ramp up its renewable ambitions to align with the milestones set by the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s net-zero emissions (NZE) scenario. Under this trajectory, Singapore’s domestic solar would still meet 6% of power with renewable imports ramping up to account for 61%–pushing fossil gas down to less than a third of electricity.
