SINGAPORE and Indonesia will continue to build existing ties on energy cooperation with the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Friday (Sep 8).

The agreement, inked on the sidelines of the Indonesia Sustainability Forum, aims to support commercial projects for cross-border trading of low-carbon electricity, said a joint statement by Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

The MOU, coupled with the conditional approval of five low-carbon energy projects by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA), will take the Republic closer to its goal of importing up to 4 GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035.

The five projects involve the import of 2 GW of low-carbon electricity from Indonesia. Previously, EMA granted conditional approval to Keppel Energy to import 1 GW of low-carbon electricity from Cambodia.

Conditional approvals are granted after EMA assesses the technological and commercial viability of the proposed electricity-import projects. Companies then obtain the necessary regulatory approvals and licences for their projects.

The companies managing the projects are Pacific Medco Solar, Adaro Solar International, EDP Renewables APAC, Vanda RE and Keppel Energy.

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They will support original equipment manufacturers in developing solar photovoltaics (PV) and manufacturing plants for battery-energy storage systems (BESS) in Indonesia. They will also conduct marine surveys on the proposed routes for their subsea power cables, subject to approval from the Indonesian authorities.

Pacific Medco Solar – formed by PacificLight Renewables, Medco Power Global and Gallant Venture – will have an import capacity of 0.6 GW, the highest among the projects.

Adaro Solar International and EDP Renewables APAC will each have 0.4 GW of import capacity.

Singapore’s Keppel Energy and Vanda RE – formed by Gurin Energy and Gentari International Renewables – will each have 0.3 GW of import capacity.

EMA said the projects will help set up PV and BESS manufacturing plants in Indonesia.

The plans are to progressively install about 11 GWp (global warming potential) of PV plants and 21 GWh (gigawatt hours) of BESS.

In a separate statement on Friday, Keppel said it plans for its 0.3 GW electricity import from Indonesia to Singapore to be supplied from more than 2 GW of installed solar PV plants, integrated with utility-scale BESS.

The electricity will be transmitted from Indonesia’s Riau Islands to Singapore via a common subsea transmission cable system. This system will be jointly developed and shared by a consortium comprising Keppel, EDP Renewables APAC and Vanda RE.

The low-carbon electricity import is part of an existing Green Corridor project between Singapore and Indonesia. The project has ambitions for a green manufacturing supply chain and industry in Indonesia.