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Singapore will "probably see a greater reliance on natural gas before substitutions could come in in a meaningful way", Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu remarked in a panel discussion at Ecosperity Week 2023 on Tuesday (Jun. 6).

As Singapore pushes ahead with the electrification of vehicles, this will occur before more commercially viable and alternative sources of cleaner energy are found.

Fu was responding to a question posed by the panel moderator on how Singapore plans to overcome renewable energy constraints given the country's small size, and concerns that the use of natural gas will "lock-in a high carbon world".

The minister was a panelist alongside the Chair of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities Catherine McKenna, and Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

Singapore looking for alternatives

In her response, Fu noted that natural gas makes up 98 per cent of Singapore's source of power.

The minister acknowledged that while natural gas is the "cleanest form" of fossil fuel, it is "not the ideal state".

"We are looking for solutions, but as I mentioned in my speech, the solution is not yet commercially viable in the large scale, but we are searching for it," Fu pointed out.

Until then, Fu shared that Singapore will "probably see" even greater reliance on natural gas "for some time to come".

As to why this was so, Fu explained that "we are going on electrification in a major way."

She gave as an example Singapore's policy to reduce the number of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on the road and having all vehicles run on clean energy by 2040.

Fu explained that as such, "there will be a time transition period where we're going to electrify even more and before alternative fuel is found."

Fu also pointed out that it was important in terms of energy security to have multiple energy sources and "have the ways to transport them".

Singapore is hoping to find a new "value chain in transportation and logistical movement of alternative fuels", and can bring to the table its expertise in areas like "movements, in storage and in the safety standards" of such alternatives.

Several projects are already ongoing, such as utilising sustainable aviation fuels at Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines, as well as with the transportation of hydrogen in the maritime sector, the minister mentioned.

Accelerating commercial viability of technology

Prior to the panel discussion, Fu gave a keynote address at the event in which she highlighted technology, finance and international cooperation as "critical enablers for accelerated climate action".

She commented that breakthroughs were required in these three areas.

On technology, Fu noted that many "needle-moving decarbonisation technologies" have yet to be widely adopted.

"A key prerequisite for wide adoption is commercial viability. While the technology may exist, it may have prohibitive costs of implementation. We must accelerate the development of such technologies to their commercial tipping point, so that we may harness their potential for decarbonisation at scale."

One example Fu gave was low-carbon hydrogen. In Singapore, hydrogen could supply up to 50 per cent of the country's energy needs by 2050.

"However, the technology and supply chains are still nascent, and large-scale deployment has not yet been demonstrated," Fu said.

In October 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced the national hydrogen strategy to explore the adoption of hydrogen technology in Singapore.

Top image via Temasek, Singapore LNG Corporation website