pwr_october-2024 - 40

COMMENTARY
The Renewables
Revolution: Overcoming
New Roadblocks
Christophe Inglin and Kavita Gandhi
S
ingapore stands at a pivotal juncture in its journey toward
sustainability, with renewable energy (RE) emerging as a
beacon of hope in the fight against climate change. PostCOP
28, many countries, including Singapore, have pledged
to treble renewable energy output by 2030. But despite our
progress in the renewables industries, it's urgent that we now
address the roadblocks standing in our way.
By way of analogy, looking back at the meteoric rise in mobile
phone, and subsequently, smartphone ownership, you'll
find that the mass uptake wasn't solely driven by the industry's
ability to mass-produce affordable devices. These phones, now
prolific, would have been rendered useless without the essential
network infrastructure-an infrastructure predominantly
financed and constructed by the private sector. Yet, it was the
public sector's pivotal role in licensing radio spectrum and mandating
the installation of base and repeater stations on private
rooftops that truly catalysed this global phenomenon.
Fast forward to today, RE stands at a similar crossroads.
Once heavily reliant on subsidies, RE is now a commercially
compelling venture, drawing in investors without the need for
incentives or subsidies. However, the momentum behind RE is
at risk of stalling well short of net-zero targets. Without swift
action to address infrastructure limitations, policy and regulatory
challenges, investment needs, the green technology skills
gap, and ensuring a steady pipeline of projects at the required
pace, the sector risks falling behind in meeting demand.
Let's take a look at the roadblocks.
Integrating RE into the existing grid presents a formidable obstacle.
Unlike traditional fossil fuel sources, which provide a constant
and predictable supply of energy, renewables such as solar
and wind are inherently intermittent. This intermittency poses
challenges for grid stability and reliability, necessitating innovative
solutions to ensure seamless integration. As photovoltaic
penetration increases, we need storage to handle intermittency
and to shift energy loads. Determining the optimal combination
of centralised versus distributed storage, establishing standards,
and addressing safety concerns are also crucial steps.
While advancements in energy storage technology such as
lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, and pumped hydro storage
offer a promising avenue to mitigate intermittency, we lack
investments in storage infrastructure, which are essential to
harness the full potential of renewable resources. We need to
store excess energy during periods of low demand and release
it when demand rises, to smooth out fluctuations in supply,
enhancing grid stability and resilience.
Realising the full benefits of energy storage hinges on enhanced
grid infrastructure. An outdated and inadequate grid not
only impedes the efficient transmission of renewable energy but
also poses risks to reliability and safety. Upgrading and modernising
the grid is a non-negotiable for unlocking the full potential of
renewables and maximising their contribution to the energy mix.
40
Beyond national grids, we must also address the limitations
on energy flow from country to country within the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). And this might be
the biggest roadblock. Expanding the grid's geographic extent
requires extraordinary political coordination, encompassing
government-to-government, government-to-business, and
business-to-business cooperation. As in the mobile phone
analogy above, unless we have this level of cooperation, opportunities
will be missed in enhancing the grid, driving down
costs, and accelerating the deployment of renewable technologies
across the region.
In Singapore, at the end of 2023, our solar power capacity
stood at 1,107.3 MW peak, accounting for about 2% of our total
electricity generation. The government aims to increase this to
2 GW peak by 2030, which would meet only about 3% to 4%
of our total electricity demand. This underscores the need for
substantive action.
As Singapore invests in modernising its grid infrastructure
to handle the influx of renewable energy and improve its transmission
efficiency, projects underway such as smart grids and
advanced grid management systems will contribute to better
management of energy flow and distribution. Policies like the
SolarNova programme to aggregate solar demand across various
government agencies, make it easier to achieve economies
of scale. The ASEAN Power Grid project to enhance regional energy
security and integration, and power agreements with Indonesia,
Malaysia, and Laos, will also go a long way, while all eyes
are on the Sun Cable project, which, if revived, could potentially
supply up to 15% of Singapore's electricity requirements.
Despite these endeavours, as we progress, much still needs
to be done. For instance, as electric vehicles replace internal
combustion engines, and electric furnaces supplant fuel-fired
steel and cement production, our carbon footprint will significantly
decrease. However, this will demand an even greater
supply of renewable energy to power these technologies.
Last, but not least, Singapore's push to increase solar capacity
means that a robust pipeline of trained professionals is
vital to implement and manage this. Lack of skilled workers
can lead to project delays and increased reliance on foreign
expertise, which can raise costs and affect long-term sustainability.
Bridging this skills gap is urgent to maintain momentum
in RE projects, and this is an area the Sustainable Energy Association
of Singapore (SEAS) is active in, particularly in bringing
much needed new market players up to speed. Companies
should tap into Singapore's SkillsFuture incentives for upskilling
in green technologies without delay.
By confronting these roadblocks head-on and embracing innovative
solutions, we can overcome the obstacles standing in
the way of a clean energy future, but it requires definitive action
between governments, the private sector, and civil society.■
-Christophe Inglin is vice-chairman of SEAS and
Kavita Gandhi is executive director of SEAS.
www.powermag.com
POWER | October 2024
http://www.powermag.com
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