Singapore’s EMA has announced conditional approvals for 900 MW clean electricity capacity to be imported from Malaysia
Sembcorp Utilities will supply 300 MW AC from its Johor solar-plus-storage development
Southern Solar Alliance has received approval to supply another 600 MW AC from SJREC
Singapore has conditionally approved the import of 900 MW of clean electricity from solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Peninsular Malaysia via existing and planned subsea interconnections as the countries expand cross-border electricity trade.
Of the 900 MW approved for import, 300 MW AC will come from a renewable energy project developed by Sembcorp Utilities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries. The remaining 600 MW AC will be supplied by Southern Solar Alliance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s Ditrolic Energy Holdings.
While announcing the conditional approvals for these facilities, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore said both companies need to secure required approvals, sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with buyers, arrange project financing, and meet project development milestones before reaching financial close.
Singapore-headquartered Sembcorp said the 300 MW capacity approved by the EMA is part of the larger 2.2 GW floating solar PV system it has planned at Linggiu Reservoir in Johor, Malaysia, accompanied by a 4.3 GWh BESS. The project is designed to meet energy demand in both Singapore and Malaysia, said Sembcorp.
Southern Solar has also planned a 600 MW AC project in Johor, located within the Southern Johor Renewable Energy Corridor (SJREC), backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Aimed at supplying clean power locally and enable exports to Singapore, SJREC is expected to host up to 4 GW solar and 5.12 GWh of energy storage capacity under Phase I (see World Bank Backs Multi-GW Scale RE Corridor In Malaysia).
Ditrolic Energy says the EMA approval enables it to advance the project’s technical, commercial, and regulatory development toward final approval.
Both Sembcorp and Southern Solar plan to bring their respective projects online in 2029.
With this, EMA says Singapore has now granted conditional approvals and conditional licenses to 13 electricity import projects from Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam as the country seeks low-carbon electricity imports to decarbonize its power sector.
Singapore targets importing 6 GW of low-carbon electricity from its neighboring countries to meet around one-third of its energy needs. Rystad Energy believes that if all proposed regional interconnections to Singapore are realized, it could unlock up to 25 GW of renewable energy storage projects across Southeast Asia with Singapore as its core (see Singapore Interconnectors Could Unlock 25 GW Of Renewable Energy).
