Singapore launches five-year energy plan with five new gas plants by 2031

Five gas plants by 2031

Singapore's Energy Market Authority has launched a five-year plan covering generation, transmission, storage and regional interconnection, designed to meet power demand driven by data centres, semiconductor fabrication and the electrification of transit. The plan was set out at the Singapore Energy Lecture by Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng.

Peak power demand reached 8.6 gigawatts in August. Planners project it will climb to between 9.9 and 13 gigawatts by 2031, an increase of as much as about 50%, with the pace set by how quickly new advanced manufacturing clusters and computing centres connect to the grid. To keep base supply, five new natural gas-fired stations will come online between now and 2031, expanding generation capacity by roughly 26% from a baseline of about 12 gigawatts. Natural gas already produces about 95% of the country's electricity.

Tan said the build-out would be "the most significant build-up of our energy infrastructure in decades". He added that "the fastest megawatt will be the winning megawatt", and that the government is prepared to intervene if market forces fail to bring capacity online quickly enough.

Grid, storage and fuel supply

Singapore expects to channel up to $5.3 billion into grid expansion between 2025 and 2029, an elevenfold increase over spending in the preceding five years. The programme calls for seven transmission substations by 2031, against four completed in the previous five years, and high-voltage lines growing from about 7,700 kilometres to 9,100 kilometres by 2030. The EMA is also studying plans to more than triple Singapore's 31-mile underground cable tunnel system, with routes running direct connections into major industrial nodes including the Tampines Wafer Fab Park. Battery storage is slated to rise from roughly 350 megawatt-hours to more than 1 gigawatt-hour by 2030, to smooth solar output and buffer congestion during transmission upgrades.

Regasification capacity will increase from 10 million metric tons a year to 15 million once a second import terminal at Jurong Port begins operating by 2030. Officials are also studying an expansion of the primary terminal on Jurong Island, backed by reinforcements to the domestic gas pipeline network. On the generation side, regulators are reviewing bids submitted in a September tender for additional gas units due to enter commercial operation by 2032.

Solar has reached 2.3 gigawatts-peak of installed capacity. The country now expects to clear its 3-gigawatt-peak target for 2030 and has raised its sights to 4 gigawatts-peak by 2035. Authorities are also evaluating a consolidated energy district on Pulau Tekong that would combine hydrogen-ready gas plants with a liquefied natural gas import terminal and other low-carbon installations, and will prepare dedicated shore landing facilities for subsea power lines from neighbouring countries.

Decarbonisation and supply risk

Tan said Singapore would "pursue every possible low-carbon energy pathway" to build its target 2050 generation mix, but added: "We will not pursue decarbonisation at all costs." He also warned that resource nationalism could threaten fuel supplies, saying that "when there is a supply crunch, countries may also prioritise their own domestic needs".

What happens next

Further competitive bidding rounds for gas capacity will follow if industrial demand warrants, and feasibility studies continue on the Tekong district and on a second high-voltage cross-border connection.