Singapore to get up to 3 gigawatts of low-carbon generation capacity from Malaysia through two cross-border power supply agreements, according to two joint statements last week as reported by Reuters. Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and Malaysia’s Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry confirmed Singapore has granted conditional approval to Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd and Malaysia’s Sarawak Energy Berhad, to import an estimated 1 GW of low-carbon electricity, mainly hydropower, from the state of Sarawak.
“The project, powered primarily by hydropower, has been assessed as preliminarily technically and commercially viable and is anticipated to commence operations around 2035, subject to final approvals and subsea cable installation,” the two sides said during a meeting of ASEAN energy ministers.
The electricity will be transmitted to Singapore through subsea cables spanning over 700km. The project is Singapore’s first large-scale 24/7 power import initiative, capable of delivering renewable baseload energy to the country, according to Sembcorp’s press release.
In addition, Singapore and Malaysia have both agreed to conduct a full feasibility study for a proposed second electricity interconnection between the two nations. The second link, if it materialises, will have potential capacity of up to 2 GW of capacity by 2030, according to a joint statement from Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Singapore’s state-owned firms SP Group and Singapore Energy Interconnections. This will complement an existing link of up to 1 GW of bi-directional electricity flows, according to the statements.
The study will build on the successful pre-feasibility study conducted by SP Group and TNB that was completed in May 2025, which established that there were no technical barriers in implementing a second interconnection.