Longer leases for renewable energy will boost Singapore's energy transition: EDP Renewables
[SINGAPORE] Having longer land leases for renewable energy in Singapore is one policy shift that could accelerate the city-state's transition into a low-carbon economy, said an executive at renewable energy player EDP Renewables.
While Singapore's agency for industrial development JTC currently has a scheme – called SolarLand – which converts industrial land that is temporarily vacant into solar farms, Filipa Ricciardi, executive director of EDP Renewables in Asia-Pacific, said she hopes to see more land reserved for renewable energy development over a longer term.
'I would love to see a right of use of land for renewable development... Industrial and commercial land... the purpose of it is not necessarily to develop renewable projects, and JTC was smart enough to think about an interim use. Obviously, we would like to see more stable, long-term land that could be available to serve clients here in Singapore,' said Ricciardi, who was speaking last Friday (Jun 27) at an event organised by Amazon Web Services.
And that also includes the use of space over water bodies.
JTC land parcels are typically allocated via a tender process, and companies that win the tender are given a temporary occupation licence, which have tenures of up to three years, indicated JTC's website.
Solar farms, however, have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.
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While Ricciardi understands that land scarcity is a major challenge in Singapore, she said she hopes to see longer leases that could last as long as 35 years.
'What I would love to see change is the concept of temporary. And so, make it more definitive for a certain time period. As renewable developers, we push for more clarity on the uses of land and the longer the time, the better for the renewable projects,' she said.
Beyond Singapore, she added, the liberalisation of electricity markets in other parts of Asia-Pacific are key for corporates to adopt more renewable energy.
Regulatory frameworks that allow companies to sign corporate power purchase agreements are needed.
In the context of South-east Asia, Valerie Choy, renewable energy lead for Asia-Pacific at Amazon Web Services, said that there has been tremendous progress in the region.
As Indonesia's electricity market is still regulated, the company signed an agreement with state-owned utility company PLN for it to provide the cloud computing arm of Amazon with solar energy.
She noted that Malaysia has also launched a programme for corporates to sign power purchase agreements, while Thailand has started a green energy procurement scheme for companies to buy renewable energy certificates.
'These are avenues that didn't exist... just four or five years ago... I think there's already tremendous progress being made, and we'll continue to work with governments and utilities in the South-east Asian countries to progress new ways to procure renewable energy,' said Choy.
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