The Quest(ions) for Singapore’s Energy Journey
In Singapore, we don’t talk about energy enough — not enough for a country whose primary energy consumption composes 86% ‘petroleum and other liquids’, not enough for a country that is “one of the world’s top three oil trading and refining hubs”, and definitely not enough for a country that has been given an overall rating of “Critically Insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker. But when it comes to the energy system, it often seems like the only people who can really talk about it with sufficient background knowledge and authority are researchers, academics, and engineers who specialise in energy. Who else can give us a comprehensive breakdown of Singapore’s energy system, from the point energy was extracted or harnessed to the moment it reaches our homes in the form of electricity? Who else can really claim with reasonable authority and certainty that a just renewable energy transition can be a reality, not merely a utopian vision?
We thought, perhaps Google can.
So we embarked on our own research to understand Singapore’s energy journey and its transition pathway.
A quick Google search yielded us infographics from the local newspaper The Straits Times, as well as Singapore’s Energy Market Authority. They told us little pieces of information about Singapore’s energy sources, generation, and transmission:
- 95% of our electricity needs are met with natural gas piped from Malaysia, Indonesia, as well as liquefied natural gas from other countries.
- Steam turbines convert energy from various sources, including natural gas, solar and waste-to-energy, into electricity.
- Singapore aims to power 350,000 households with solar energy by 2030.
- Electricity is distributed to consumers like us through the national power grid.
- Consumers purchase either from the “Open Electricity Market”, or from Singapore Power (the government-owned distribution company) at the regulated tariff.
- Engineers work 24/7 at the Power System Control Centre to ensure a reliable supply of electricity is delivered to consumers.
We could have been happy with these answers, but they only opened a larger can of worms. We only had more questions to ask at each stage of the energy journey. For example…
At the energy source, we were befuddled by the missing information:
- If 95% of our electricity is met with natural gas, why is the statistic for Singapore’s primary energy consumption still composed of 86% ‘petroleum and other liquids’? What about these other forms of energy we use?
- What makes up our remaining 5% of electricity?
At the site of extraction, we wondered:
- What is natural gas? We have always heard of it touted as the “cleanest fossil fuel”, but how clean can it be if it is still a fossil fuel? How is it different from the other fossil fuels in composition, in extraction processes, in emissions? What does “clean” even mean?
- Where exactly in Malaysia and Indonesia are our natural gas from? How was it extracted? What resources were used in the process of extraction and building of pipelines? What land use changes occurred? Who is involved — which company, who are the workers, whose habitats and livelihoods might have been affected, who might have been powerless in the process?
At the site of electricity generation, we asked:
- Who works these power plants? Is it safe for them?
- What are the byproducts and how are they disposed of or managed?
At the level of distribution to consumers, we thought:
- How does the national power grid work? If not national, are there other ways a power grid might be structured — like a larger-scale regional grid, or a small-scale mini grid?
- How do the power grid and electricity market affect or determine how our electricity is priced? How is our electricity priced? Why does the price of electricity per unit differ so much between different suppliers?
- What does an un/reliable supply of electricity look like? What makes Singapore’s electricity supply reliable? What makes electricity supply in some countries unreliable?
On the plans for solar power, we wanted more:
- What are the obstacles we face in increasing solar power?
- What percentage of our total energy needs does the target of 350,000 households make up? What is the renewable energy target we need to achieve peak emissions by 2030, as pledged in the Paris Agreement? What is the renewable energy target we really need to keep within 1.5 degrees Celsius warming?
We had so many questions, but so few to which we could find answers that were contextualised to Singapore, and definitely not without meeting paywalls on academic journals or newspapers. In particular, information regarding the human and socio-economic dimensions of energy systems, and the implications on neighbouring countries in the Southeast Asian region was sorely lacking. There was so much we would not know if we had not asked questions, so much that we still don’t know because information is inaccessible, and even more that we would not even know to ask.
One of the core aspects of mitigating the climate crisis is having a just energy transition, and one of the largest stakeholders in the climate crisis are the youth. Yet, holistic energy systems knowledge has yet to become a substantial part of formal education, and youth in Singapore and Southeast Asia remain ill-equipped to participate meaningfully in energy discussions. Energy CoLab recognises the power of youth in driving change towards a just, equitable, green-powered future and seeks to reduce the barriers Southeast Asian youths face in engaging with and contributing solutions to energy issues. By asking the questions in this article, we hope to spark curiosity in the unanswered questions about our energy systems and to challenge us to think deeply about energy.
In the meantime, stay tuned on this platform and on our Instagram, as we seek to tackle some of these questions in our upcoming posts!
Check out our Instagram Post associated with this article, Singapore’s energy journey — Powering Our Homes edition.
