Singapore appoints trio to research CCS pathways in power generation

Singapore’s Energy Market Authority has appointed three power generation companies – Keppel’s Infrastructure Division, PacificLight Power and YTL PowerSeraya – to conduct carbon capture and storage (CCS) feasibility studies for the power sector.

Three studies will focus on post-combustion carbon capture and two on pre-combustion carbon capture.

Post-combustion for natural gas power plants refers to the installation of an onsite CO2 capture unit to capture CO2 from the flue gas produced during the combustion of natural gas in power plants.

Pre-combustion capture refers to the installation of an onsite CO2 capture unit to capture CO2 generated during the production of hydrogen from natural gas.

The hydrogen would then be transported to the power plants and combusted to generate electricity.

The findings from the studies will allow the regulator and the power generation companies to deepen knowledge and understanding of the power sector CCS pathways, as well as identify infrastructure and site-specific requirements.

The findings would also provide a useful foundation to conduct more detailed engineering studies in future, such as preliminary front end engineering design (pre-FEED) and FEED studies, to further assess the feasibility of CCS to decarbonise the power sector.

Singapore faces significant power and emissions challenges due to its land scarcity. It relies heavily on imported energy and is recording growing electricity demand.

Approximately 94% of its electricity generation comes from natural gas and the power sector accounts for 40% of its carbon footprint.

It aims to import around 6GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035 and is targeting Net Zero emissions by 2050.