Hi readers, for this blog post, I would like to share on issues Singapore have in generating energy from renewables resources.

Singapore opportunities to produce energy from renewable energy resources is constrained by our geography. This in the limits our ability to find alternative clean energy resources at a national scale. A small country like Singapore with highly dense urbanised land-use patterns hinders our ability to produce renewable energy due to low wind speed, low tidal power and others. Although Singapore receive a lot of Sun hours in the day, more investments is needed to locate these solar panels on buildings, in order to maximise its potential.

Since the 2000s, Singapore has been producing electricity from non-renewables such as natural gas- the cleanest form of fossil fuel. The production of electricity from natural gas accounted for around 95% of our energy needs (Tan, 2019).It is important for the government to work with private industries in investing, developing and stimulating the use of solar energy for electricity production. As Singapore has a high average annual solar irradiation of about 1500 sun hours per year (EMA, n.d), solar energy as a renewable is in fact, the most viable option compared to other alternatives. At the moment, there are ongoing efforts to identify solutions to manage the intermittency of high cloud-cover (EMA, n.d) and urban shading.However, if these challenges are left unaddressed, it would limit the solar panel capability to generate electricity.

Apart from that, Singapore may also need to diversify its new renewable energy resources from supply beyond its national boundaries. This requires Singapore to use its strong political ties with countries that may already have ventured into the production of renewables. For instance, Singapore can maintain ties through closer cooperation between Australia in its aims to reach its goal as a low carbon city. A project by Singapore-based developer Sun Cable is seen to have plans for a mega project to supply solar power from northern Australia to Singapore via the world’s longest subsea high voltage cable from 3800km away (Pearlman, 2019). This massive solar farm has the potential to supply one-fifth of Singapore’s electricity (Pearlman, 2019). As Australia has the highest solar radiation per square meter in the world (Kabir et al., 2018), solar power generation could be maximised.

In conclusion, it is important for Singapore to diversify and expand its energy needs from various renewable energy alternatives. While producing solar panel energy locally, we could also tap on other countries expertise in the long run. Although a mega project such a subsea high voltage cable from 3800km away may not seem be viable, proper research in weighing its benefits are needed to see if in the long run, this could provide a sufficient supply of clean energy.

References:

EMA. (n.d.). Solar Photovoltaic Systems. https://www.ema.gov.sg/Solar_Photovoltaic_Systems.aspx

Kabir, E., Kumar, P., Kumar, S., Adelodun, A. A., & Kim, K. (2018). Solar energy: Potential and future prospects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, 894-900. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.09.094

Pearlman, J. (2019, July 21). Aussie solar farm project aims to power up S’pore too. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/aussie-solar-farm-project-aims-to-power-up-spore-too

Tan, A. (2019, October 30). Natural gas to remain Singapore’s key energy fuel for 50 years. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/natural-gas-to-remain-spores-key-energy-fuel-for-50-years