Always ready to take on new challenges, Kok Keong joined the Energy Market Authority as the Chief Executive in July this year. In his first three months, he dived straight into action, on initiatives such as the award of Conditional Licences for low-carbon electricity imports from Indonesia as well as the second phase of the multilateral Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS-PIP).

In this article, he shared his thoughts on Singapore’s energy transition, and his aspiration for EMA in driving a clean energy future for Singapore.

Energy powers the modern comforts that we often take for granted, like the use of mobile phones and air-conditioning. My role now is to play my part in ensuring our energy supply continues to be reliable while decarbonising the sector to meet our net-zero goal. This is something I find both exciting and personally meaningful.

It is all about a sense of purpose. I believe in the mission of the public service — to help drive Singapore’s success and improve the lives of Singaporeans – and this role allows me to work with my colleagues to contribute to powering Singapore ahead.

Given Singapore’s limited land space, enabling imports of renewable or low-carbon electricity is one of the feasible ways for us to decarbonise the power sector.

These import projects are ambitious, large-scale projects with high upfront investments. Developers will need to consider the entire value chain, from power generation to cable infrastructure, connecting the cables to Singapore and ensuring energy storage systems are in place.

The benefits extend far beyond Singapore. The projects will catalyse billions of dollars of investments in solar and energy storage manufacturing, creating thousands of jobs in Indonesia. The increase in manufacturing capabilities and capacity can also help to improve the effectiveness and cost competitiveness of solar and energy storage, leading to a higher rate of solar and energy storage adoption in the region.

Our approach to energy has always been to keep all our options open. Currently, we are investing in capabilities to explore different technologies, from hydrogen to geothermal, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage.

For example, we have come together with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to pilot the use of ammonia for power generation and bunkering. The Ammonia Pathfinder project is one of the first in the world! We are also working with S Hub – a consortium comprising ExxonMobil and Shell – to study the viability of cross-border carbon capture and storage.

And even as we continue to use natural gas to keep our energy supply stable, we are looking at what we can do to improve the efficiency of gas-fired power plants. One way is to introduce new and state-of-the-art combined cycle gas turbines into the system, to reduce our carbon emissions. As part of our requirements, all new and repowered power plants have to be hydrogen-compatible. This will support our transition to using low- or zero-carbon energy in the future.

Indeed, many of these energy technologies are still being studied around the world. Ultimately, the ones that become technically and commercially viable will likely be the ones to scale up most rapidly as well.

Take natural gas for example. It took time for the world to develop and scale up the use of natural gas for power generation We eventually reached a stage where natural gas is now a well-established and cost-effective energy source, which is widely traded via pipelines or via liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. The same can happen to new forms of energy such as hydrogen.

The renewable energy potential in our region is substantial. If we start to collaborate more, focus on long-term goals and attract more investments, the opportunities and benefits to our region will only continue to grow.

This may not necessarily be the case.

It was expensive to install solar panels 10 years ago. However, with the drop in prices in solar panels, the cost of solar is now comparable or even lower than other energy sources.

We may see a similar trend with electricity imports or hydrogen. While no one can predict exactly how prices will change in the future, EMA remains focused on keeping energy prices competitive for consumers.

Singapore is recognised internationally for its credibility and commitment. When we say we are committed to reach net-zero by 2050, we mean it and will do our utmost to make it happen. The journey will not be easy, but we are hopeful that when nations and companies bring together their best minds, even the toughest challenges can be overcome.

EMA’s primary goal is to keep the lights on for everyday life while making every possible effort to do it in an environmentally sustainable manner, while keeping costs down.

To do this, we are trying to acquire the necessary capabilities and work with stakeholders to understand the new technologies better so that when the rubber hits the road, we can bring such projects to fruition.

And I am heartened to see that at EMA, we are a team who is genuinely enthusiastic about this mission. We will continue to prepare ourselves for the future by improving our science and engineering capabilities and developing our talent pool to make our clean energy future a reality.