Singaporeans will not lose their access to Sembawang Hot Spring Park after the Energy Market Authority (EMA) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an islandwide geophysical study to assess the country's geothermal potential for power generation, said Ong Ye Kung in a Facebook post on Sep. 6, 2023.

Ong was responding to queries from residents.

He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

In the same press release announcing the issuance of the RFP, EMA also pointed to an earlier study by the Nanyang Technological University, which found that the heat from a depth of 4km to 5km in the Admiralty area, where the hot spring is situated, could be suitable for power generation.

Too early to be worried

To ascertain his answer to the residents was correct, Ong said he had reached out to EMA to understand their plans.

He clarified that the agency is currently still studying the feasibility of leveraging Singapore's geothermal potential, meaning it does not have a definitive answer for now.

However, even if the geothermal energy is found to be feasible and cost-effective for Singapore, the power plant can be built at various places, and not necessarily where the hot spring is located, added Ong.

Furthermore, the hot spring will also not be drained because the power plants will adopt a closed-loop system, said Ong.

Under such a system, water will be piped deeply into the ground and be used to generate electricity after it is heated up.

The same water will circulate back into the pipe, repeating the process above.

In contrast, the water in an open-loop system is normally discharged into the drain after use.

Background

On Sep. 4, EMA issued a Request for Proposal for a holistic study to help the agency determine the overall potential and the scalability of geothermal power across Singapore.

The issuance comes after localised exploratory studies conducted in northern and eastern Singapore, which have been "identified to hold geothermal potential based on their higher surface temperature measurements," according to EMA.

Besides providing additional data to assess geothermal energy as "a potential source of renewable energy" and "identify suitable locations for the potential deployment of geothermal power plants" in Singapore, the study will also be used to assess the potential for subsurface geologic carbon sequestration in the country, said the agency.

EMA added that it is exploring indigenous energy options other than solar to further diversify and decarbonise Singapore's energy sources in view of the country's international climate commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Geothermal energy could also help improve Singapore's energy resilience, as Singapore is "a small, resource-constrained country" with limited renewable energy options and imports almost all its energy needs, reasoned the agency.

Top images via Ong Ye Kung & NParks/Facebook