Singapore beefs up its energy facility to keep the lights on
Singapore beefs up its energy facility to keep the lights on
Martin Abbugao, Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Singapore will beef up its gas pipelines and is considering a
liquefied natural gas facility as it moves to reduce
vulnerability to disruptions of energy piped in from Indonesia
and Malaysia.
The trade-reliant republic, which hosts 6,000 multinational
corporations and several thousand other smaller foreign and
domestic firms, had its global reputation tarnished by an
embarrassing power failure in large parts of the city-state on
June 29.
Officials are cracking the whip not only to repair the
country's dented prestige, but also to plug its vulnerability to
disruptions of piped natural gas, a cheaper, cleaner fuel
compared with oil.
"Technical failures affecting power supply can happen
anywhere, but in Singapore's case they have highlighted the
republic's high level of dependence on piped natural gas from
Indonesia and Malaysia," said Tim Huxley, an Asia specialist at
the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Two thirds of the 5,000 megawatts of electricity actually used
in Singapore is powered by gas, while the rest use oil.
To prevent future power failures, the Energy Market Authority
(EMA), which regulates the industry, last week unveiled two back-
up measures to be implemented in the short to medium term.
The first is ensuring that each of Singapore's three major
power stations will get access to two gas pipelines instead of
just one.
One power station, Seraya, which gets gas from Indonesia's
Natuna fields through a 640 kilometer (397-mile) undersea
pipeline, will soon be backed by a second link taking gas from
Sumatra.
The Tuas station, which takes gas also from Natuna, is
planning a second pipeline by mid 2005 for Sumatra gas. The
Senoko station is already supported by two pipelines from Sumatra
and Malaysia.
A second measure involves interconnecting the Natuna and
Sumatra pipelines so that each can draw gas from the other in
case of a long shutdown.
EMA chief executive Khoo Chin Hean said, however, this would
take time because the two pipelines "operate at different gas
pressures and are under different commercial contractual
frameworks."
Legislation to expand the powers of EMA has also been
proposed.
For the long-term, the EMA is considering a facility for
alternative fuel sources such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), and
building storage tanks for gas reserves.
"If approved, the LNG facility should be operational after
2010," Khoo said.
The necessity for a back-up network has been speeded up by the
June 29 power failure, which plunged more than 300,000 homes into
darkness for up to two hours in what was the nation's worst
black-out in a decade.
Trade Minister George Yeo has ordered the Economic Development
Board (EDB), which oversees foreign investments, to explain the
power failure to corporate clients and assure them the problem
was being fixed.
"I think this has done damage to our international
reputation... This is not a teething problem, this is quite a
toothache for everybody," he said.
Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister of State for Trade and
Industry, also said the damage to the country's reputation for
ultra-efficiency and in its world class infrastructure was
"incalculable", and vowed erring firms would be punished.
The blackout was blamed on a faulty solenoid or switching
device, which led to the shutdown of a pressure valve at an
onshore facility run by U.S. refiner ConocoPhilips.
This disrupted the flow of gas to the power stations. To
complicate things, backup systems designed to allow the stations
to quickly switch to diesel and continue operating failed to kick
in.
But there are other threats aside from technical failures that
are forcing the government to diversify its energy sources.
Security analysts said the pipelines and onshore facilities
are attractive targets for terrorist groups, a fear highlighted
during the blackout when many residents thought the city-state
had come under terror attack.