The Energy Market Authority (“EMA”) seeks to work with the industry to further facilitate power generation investment decisions in Singapore through making available more information and providing greater visibility to investors. This consultation paper consists of three key sections: i) the proposed information that the EMA hopes to put out on the long term outlook of the energy market; ii) proposed enhancements to the regulatory approval process for new and existing generation assets to give greater visibility on the capacity coming on-stream; and iii) a proposed framework to allocate land for new generation assets.

Gien the high capital cost, significant lead time and long pay-back period for power generation investments, there is a need for a long term view on the outlook of the energy landscape in Singapore. While the EMA has been proactive in providing market information such as energy generation and consumption to facilitate planning, there is scope for the EMA to enhance longer horizon visibility for efficient investments to take place. The EMA therefore proposes to share with the industry its view of the longer term outlook of the sector. This could include projected growth of electricity system demand, as well as an indicative mix of generation sources (gas-fired plants, solar,electricity imports etc.) in 2030 based on technology developments, evolving business models and broader policy considerations.

In line with the above, the EMA also intends to provide guidance on the staging horizon of the different generation sources. To improve supply reliability and network utilisation through the diversification of the geographical locations of power plants, the EMA’s preference is to facilitate the next tranche of planting in the north-eastern part of Singapore.

The EMA is also reviewing the regulatory approval process for new and existing generation assets, with the objective of providing greater visibility on the total generation capacity on a forward-looking basis. One proposal is for generation licensees or new investors to submit binding plans for retirement, repowering, life extension or new planting of generation assets. The aggregated data could be put out so that there is visibility on the net new capacities that will be coming on-stream. This would help mitigate the risk of oversupply (where investors rush to plant without factoring in other investors’ decisions), as well as undersupply (where investors delay investment decisions because of the uncertainty around other investors’ decisions).

The EMA invites comments and feedback to the consultation paper.