Singapore’s local power company, YTL PowerSeraya, is planning to import electricity from Malaysia for the first time. The company is preparing to purchase 100 megawatts (MW) from Malaysia’s TNB Power Generation, which will constitute 1.5% of Singapore’s electricity demand, enough to power about 144,000 four-room Housing Board flats for a year. YTL PowerSeraya is the only party in Singapore with prior experience in cross-border power trade. Singapore’s Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz witnessed the signing of the cross-border electricity purchase agreement. Both parties plan to work with the Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) and the Malaysian Energy Commission to meet all technical and regulatory conditions under the Electricity Import Framework.
The agreement is part of a two-year trial plan for Singapore to import large-scale electricity as it transitions to cleaner energy resources. In 2022, Singapore announced that it will import more electricity from the region and is on track to reach its import targets of up to 4 gigawatts of electricity by 2035. As the country transitions towards greater sustainability, there will be new growth opportunities in the areas of solar, energy storage systems (ESS) and smart grids. The company believes that this agreement is a crucial step in strengthen the ASEAN power grid, where electricity imports may eventually form a key part of Singapore’s energy mix. Such partnerships will help facilitate areas of cooperation in the development of renewable energy projects, regional power grides, and cross-border grid interconnections.
