Tan Sri (Sir) Francis Yeoh, Chairman of YTL PowerSeraya

 

Mr John Ng, CEO of YTL PowerSeraya

 

Ms Katy Wilner, Chief Commercial Officer of GE Vernova

 

Mr Zhou Jiayi, President of PowerChina Asia Pacific

 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

 

1. A very good afternoon to all of you.

 

2. I would like to congratulate the YTL PowerSeraya (YTLPS) team, GE Vernova, SEPCOIII, on the groundbreaking of the YTLPS 600MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plant. Thank you for inviting me to be part of this.

 

3. To ensure sufficient generation capacity, EMA introduced a Centralised Process in July 2023 to coordinate the planting of new generation capacity. Under the Centralised Process, EMA awarded the first Request for Proposal (RFP) to YTLPS in January 2024, to build, own and operate a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine, or CCGT in short.

 

4. YTLPS’ 600MW CCGT is a significant milestone for our power sector and is a testament to the important role private generation companies play in the power sector.

 

CCGTs in a Low-Carbon Future

 

5. I am heartened that YTLPS has committed to growing their generation fleet in Singapore.

 

We expect Singapore’s system peak demand to continue to grow by about 3% to 5% per annum, over the next 10 years, to support the growth in economic activities and digitalisation. The completion of this new CCGT by 2027 will allow us to meet this rising demand.

 

6. Singapore’s transition to net-zero by 2050 will be a multi-decade journey. As a renewable energy-disadvantaged country, it will take time for Singapore to develop and scale up our low-carbon energy sources. Therefore, natural gas will continue to play a key role in our energy mix, to underpin our energy security and provide stable baseload electricity supply.

 

7. To ensure resiliency in our gas supply, Singapore is also moving forward with the setting up of the central gas procurement and supply entity, or Gasco in short. Gasco will be set up as a fully Government-owned company by the end of this financial year and will be responsible for the procurement and supply of gas to the power sector. I thank our gencos, including YTLPS, for working closely with EMA to provide feedback on our centralised gas procurement framework.

 

8. SLNG will also be developing an offshore LNG terminal with 5 mtpa of throughput capacity to ensure that we can continue to meet our LNG needs. This is an expansion of about 50% of our existing terminal capacity.

 

Grant Call for Power Sector CCS Feasibility Studies

 

9. So, even as we expand our CCGT capacity, it is equally important that we develop pathways for its future decarbonisation.

 

10. To this end, new CCGTs that have been built since 2020 will all have to be hydrogen-ready. For example, YTLPS’ CCGT will have the capability to operate on fuels with 50% hydrogen content and can be enhanced to run 100% on hydrogen in the future.

 

11. Beyond hydrogen, EMA has also launched a grant call to assess the viability of integrating carbon capture technologies into CCGT operations.

 

EMA will collaborate with industry partners to conduct these feasibility studies in 2025.

 

12. Carbon capture technologies have the potential to capture up to 95% of carbon dioxide emissions from CCGTs. Such technologies will enable the continued use of natural gas in our energy mix, even as Singapore studies other low-carbon energy pathways.

 

Conclusion

 

13. I congratulate all of you, once again, on today’s significant milestone. As key stakeholders within Singapore’s power sector, you play a pivotal role in ensuring that our system is able to meet our energy needs, not just for today, but also for the many decades to come.

 

14. Let us continue to work together to co-create a resilient, cost-competitive, and low-carbon energy system.