Singapore is mulling allocating 20 hectares (ha) of land on Jurong Island to build a green data center park which could accommodate up to 700 megawatts (MW) of capacity, its largest such facility if realised, according to reports, quoting Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science & Technology Tan See Leng at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) today. The park, to be set on the 3,000-ha Jurong Island, will be complemented by low carbon fuel which will initially see biomethane being explored in a regulatory sandbox.
“Our goal is not just to get through the energy transition, but to emerge even stronger by capturing new growth opportunities and creating new good, growth jobs for all of our workers,” said Tan.
The low-carbon focus is in line with Singapore’s 2024 Green Data Centre Roadmap, which seeks to reduce the high carbon emissions of data centers. The island nation targets net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Operators can leverage (Jurong Island’s) ecosystem, such as shared energy storage infrastructure and utilities, ample power capacity as well as emerging low-carbon energy sources,” the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and industrial landlord JTC said in a statement.
Following a moratorium on new data centers from 2019 – 2022, new data centers are required to meet more stringent requirements such as meeting efficiency standards, adopting advanced cooling systems and using renewable energy sources.
Tan also announced a biomethane sandbox with capacity of up to 300 MW as a viable low carbon fuel for industry players. Selected power generation companies will be appointed as supply and demand aggregators early next year, according to Tan, as quoted in Singapore Business Times.
Biomethane which is derived from biogas from agricultural waste, is a renewable fuel that can be used interchangeably with natural gas in power plants.
As part of an incentive scheme to encourage more carbon-efficient gas power plants, the government will award S$44 million to Keppel and Sembcorp to support their deployment of the first two advanced power plants in Singapore by the end of 2026.
In April, the government set up Singapore GasCo to centralise gas procurement which will launch early next year. This is because natural gas is still important in Singapore’s energy mix.