SINGAPORE - Work has officially begun on an $800 million power plant that has the capability to use hydrogen to generate electricity, as part of a push to utilise the fuel to reach Singapore’s net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050.

       Located at Pulau Seraya Power Station on Jurong Island, the hydrogen-ready combined cycle gas turbine being built by YTL PowerSeraya will have a 600MW capacity and can power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year.

       The power plant is slated for completion by Dec 31, 2027. It will initially have the capacity to use up to 50 per cent hydrogen and 50 per cent natural gas for electricity generation. It can be retrofitted to be fully powered by hydrogen in the future.

       Singapore currently relies on natural gas to generate most of its electricity but needs to transition to greener sources to meet its goals. Hydrogen is considered to be a greener fuel than natural gas as it does not produce any planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned.

       A ground-breaking ceremony was held at YTL PowerSeraya’s Pulau Seraya Power Station site on Oct 23, in conjunction with the week-long Singapore International Energy Week.

       Singapore’s peak system demand will continue to grow by about 3 per cent to 5 per cent per annum over the next 10 years to support growth in economic activities and digitalisation, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said at the event.

       The completion of the new power plant will allow the country to meet this rising demand, Dr Tan said. Peak demand tends to occur in the afternoon, when commercial and industrial activities are running at full speed.

       The project is the first tender awarded under the Energy Market Authority’s (EMA) new centralised process framework, where the authority will forecast electricity demand on a 10-year rolling basis and invite the private sector to build, own and operate new generation capacity if there is insufficient capacity.

       The authority previously announced that from 2024, all new and repowered natural gas power plants will need to be at least 30 per cent hydrogen-compatible.

       By 2030, Singapore is expected to have at least nine such hydrogen-compatible power plants.

       “(The new hydrogen-compatible power plant) is a significant milestone for our power sector and is a testament to the important role private generation companies play in the power sector,” Dr Tan said.

       YTL PowerSeraya has appointed two consortium partners, energy equipment manufacturer GE Vernova and construction engineering company SEPCOIII, to help develop hydrogen-ready power generation technology.

       The new plant will use state-of-the-art technology so it will be more efficient, said Mr John Ng, group chief executive of YTL PowerSeraya. Using natural gas, the plant would already cut up to 17 per cent of CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated.

       On a 50 per cent hydrogen mix, the carbon footprint could be further reduced by 33 per cent.

       Mr Ng said it is hard to estimate the timeline for retrofitting the new plant to be fully powered by hydrogen, because large-scale green hydrogen production in Singapore is still limited, and the company will have to decide based on how the ecosystem grows.

       He added that it is not yet certain if consumers will be paying more for green electricity. While energy efficiency, CO2 reduction and carbon tax reduction will offer net benefits to consumers, using hydrogen still costs more than natural gas at this moment.

       That said, he believes prices will be competitive, given Singapore’s “competitive landscape”.

       Dr Tan said that beyond hydrogen, EMA has also launched a grant call to assess the viability of integrating carbon capture technologies into power plant operations. “Such technologies will enable the continued use of natural gas in our energy mix, even as Singapore studies other low-carbon energy pathways,” he said.