The Singapore government will put low-carbon hydrogen at the heart of plans to accelerate its transition to a net zero economy, releasing a National Hydrogen Strategy to build capability in the space.
The strategic focus will bring opportunities for businesses and industry stakeholders. International collaboration, workforce training, driving innovative technology to commercialisation and investing millions into research and development are among key planned efforts.
The National Hydrogen Strategy was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong on October 25 at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW). Under the strategy, low carbon hydrogen has the potential to supply up to half of the nation’s power needs by 2050.
This follows the trailblazing Green Economy Agreement (GEA) between Australia and Singapore, signed on October 18 and encouraging hopes for an era of cooperation as the region transitions to net zero.
In this insight, we look at key elements of the hydrogen play by Singapore and what it means for business, including:
- The potential role for Singapore in the international hydrogen supply chain
- Hydrogen’s role in lower carbon shipping
- Singapore’s priority growth areas and guardrails in the power sector
- Opportunities for collaboration and mutual benefit in these areas pursuant to the Green Economy Agreement between Australia and Singapore.
The hydrogen focus – seizing an opportunity at a global ‘inflection point’
The strategy describes global developments in hydrogen as having reached an “inflection point”, putting the low carbon version of the fuel in a position to play an important role in decarbonisation.
The strategy comes in the wake of several important developments in the hydrogen market:
- The number of large-scale hydrogen project proposals increased by 50% between November 2021 and May 2022, reaching 680 in number and US$240 billion in value. [1]
- The production of low-carbon hydrogen could reach up to 24 million tons per annum (mtpa) (up from less than 1 mtpa in 2021) by 2030 if all announced pipeline projects for low-carbon hydrogen materialise. [2]
- Hydrogen trade agreements are increasing: in the nine months leading up to February 2022, the number of agreements announced doubled to about 90 according to IRENA data.
The ‘five key thrusts’ of Singapore’s plan to adopt hydrogen as a decarbonisation pathway are:
Opportunities for business
Numerous commercial opportunities can flow from Singapore’s announced hydrogen strategy, including:
- Hydrogen technologies: the Low Carbon Energy Research program will invest SGD129 million (US$90 million) into advancing hydrogen technologies.
- Supply chains: Industry and global partners are critical to the government’s plan to scale up hydrogen supply chains.
- Ammonia: in coming months, Singapore will release details relating to a call-out for small-scale commercial projects using ammonia for power.
- Infrastructure: the anticipated mass deployment of hydrogen will require land and infrastructure development.
“For a city-state like Singapore that has very limited access to in-situ renewable energy, hydrogen is also an attractive decarbonisation pathway because it presents a scalable way to transport clean energy from countries around the world.”
Singapore National Hydrogen Strategy
The potential role for Singapore in the international hydrogen supply chain
Low-carbon hydrogen is produced by electrolysis (the process of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, by passing electricity through water), or from fossil fuels with carbon removal technologies applied. Before hydrogen can be shipped around the world, it must be transformed through liquefaction or conversion into a “hydrogen carrier” (such as ammonia).
The strategy seeks to ensure Singapore is in a strong position to scale up hydrogen deployment by advancing global supply chains for low-carbon hydrogen, developing key technologies that support the transportation of liquefied hydrogen and hydrogen carriers (and the reconversion of hydrogen carriers) and continuing to find solutions to the ‘technoeconomic challenges’ within the hydrogen value chain.
Singapore has built itself into a leading international energy hub. This, and the experience, infrastructure and expertise which come with it, places it in a strong position to help build and shape viable global hydrogen supply chains. There are potentially strong parallels with the global LNG supply chain, an area in which Singapore has enjoyed success and regional leadership (as a hub) in recent years. Staying true to its tradition of vision and innovation in energy trade (for its own security and financial gain but also for regional benefit), the strategy sets the stage for Singapore to emerge as a key hub and facilitator of physical (and financial) trade in low-carbon hydrogen.
Hydrogen’s role in lower carbon shipping
The strategy singles out maritime and aviation as likely beneficiaries of development in hydrogen technology, given the inherent difficulties in electrifying the longer-haul forms of transport in those sectors.
Ammonia, as a hydrogen-based fuel, is expected to feature prominently in the transition of the maritime industry in particular. For aviation, the focus is on Sustainable Aviation Fuels but low carbon hydrogen can play a part in vehicles used in airports, with the potential for future use in aircraft.
“As a global shipping and air hub, Singapore can play an important role in supporting this transition.”
Singapore National Hydrogen Strategy
Low-carbon hydrogen is one of an array of energy sector collaboration opportunities between Singapore and Australia under the GEA
Solar, storage and microgrid
In addition to its ambitions for the low-carbon hydrogen sector, Singapore is not standing still in terms of solar, energy storage systems and smart grid technology. Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) highlighted these as key growth areas on the same day as the hydrogen strategy announcement (25 October).
Source: EMA, Emerging and High Growth Areas in Singapore’s Clean Energy Sector
25 October was a busy day for the EMA which, following a review of Singapore’s power sector, also announced three guardrails aimed at assisting the energy transition and improving the stability and security of Singapore’s power sector in the longer term. Public and industry consultations are planned, with implementation from 2023. The three guardrails are:
1. Power Generation Capacity
- Ensuring sufficient power generation capacity to meet demands (a centralised process to facilitate private investments in new generation through a competitive tender process over the next 5 years)
2. Gas Supply
- Enhancing the resilience of the gas supply (including sufficient fuel requirements for generators, standby LNG facilities, and industry collaboration on gas procurement)
3. Retail Markets
- Strengthening consumer protection (enhancing electricity retailer regulatory requirements and tightening consumer eligibility for wholesale price plans prone to fluctuations)
Clean energy, decarbonisation and technology is one of the seven priority areas set out in the GEA agreed and announced in October 2022. Trade and investment is another.
Australia’s proximity to Singapore, robust regulatory framework and consumer protections, substantial land, gas and energy resources, developed infrastructure and strong economic position help to underpin an array of opportunities for collaboration between Singapore and Australia, supported by the GEA.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cited the world’s largest solar farm, battery and undersea cable and first intercontinental power grid, connecting Australia to Singapore to supply renewable power, as an example of what the GEA aims to achieve. It is forecast that Sun Cable’s Australia-Asia Power Link project could inject $8 billion into the Australian economy and provide up to 15% of Singapore’s total energy needs.
The increasing proliferation of pilot hydrogen projects and announced large-scale hydrogen projects in Australia, coupled with the GEA and Singapore’s National Hydrogen Strategy set the stage for the hydrogen sector to form another key plank in collaboration between the two nations.
The recent announcement by Keppel Infrastructure and Greenko, of their execution of a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly explore green ammonia and renewable energy opportunities to meet the growing demand for low carbon energy in India, Singapore and globally is an example of what may be replicated between Singaporean and Australian companies.
Timing of the National Hydrogen Strategy announcement – and what’s to come
Through the National Hydrogen Strategy, Singapore has reinforced its commitment to low-carbon hydrogen and its various carrier forms as a broad-based and scalable decarbonisation pathway for Singapore and the world.
The announcement was timed with SIEW, an important event in the region that is increasingly focused on clean energy. The theme of this year’s SIEW was “A Resilient and Sustainable Energy Future” and the event was attended by over 10,000 energy leaders, professional and youths from over 80 countries around the world. [3] The SIEW stressed the importance of enhancing energy security, increasing efforts to green energy sources, and working towards net zero ambitions to combat climate change.
Commenting on the significant increase in momentum of low-carbon hydrogen, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance highlighted several key factors driving development:
- exponential increase in global investment in low-carbon hydrogen
- 40 countries have announced their hydrogen strategies, and committed significant resources to building up their hydrogen value chains [4]
- growing pipelines of production projects worldwide, [5] and
- the trials of key technologies across the value chain are expected to become commercially available in the coming years. [6]
The strategy marks the beginning of Singapore’s hydrogen journey and is another pivotal step in its effort to reduce global emissions, support innovation and technological advancement in green energy projects, facilitate investment in low-carbon alternatives, increase collaboration between nations, and solidify its place as a world leader in developing a green economy.
Want to know more? See our related pieces:
- Prospects for Hydrogen in Asia Pacific
- Opportunities in Hydrogen
- Powering A Net Zero World – Chapter 2 of the ACBC-KWM Climate Collaboration Report
- Hydrogen – Energy of the Future
- Is Hong Kong’s Regulatory Framework Ready for Hydrogen-powered Vehicles?
- Australia and Singapore Trailblaze with First of its Kind Green Economy Agreement
- Flying Carbon-Free: Aviation's Green Transformation
