• Alternative Energy Market Set to Soar
• Comprehensive Blueprint for Clean Energy
• Committed to Growing Industry
• CEPO Schemes
• Forging Solar Research Leadership
• A Head Start into Solar
• A Balanced Roadmap for Biofuels
• Other Alternative Energies
• Singapore as Asia’s Carbon Hub

Climate change, fossil fuel depletion and rapid urbanisation are driving up demand for cleaner and more sustainable solutions. This is also fuelling the new wave of investments in alternative energy.

Singapore's aim is to be a global hub where clean energy solutions are developed, tested, and exported overseas. Since Singapore identified the Clean Energy industry as a strategic growth area for our economy in 2007, the city-state began to implement a comprehensive blueprint to grow the industry, starting with an initial funding support of S$350 million from the government. This blueprint comprises of five key pillars: R&D, developing manpower, grooming Singapore-based enterprises, branding the industry internationally, and growing a vibrant industry ecosystem.

Singapore's clean energy push centres on solar energy, given its strategic location in the tropical sunbelt. Besides solar, resources are also being channelled towards wind energy, electric mobility, smart grids, biomass, fuel cells, energy efficiency, and carbon services. By 2015, the clean energy industry is expected to contribute S$1.7 billion to Singapore's gross domestic product and employ around 7,000 people. To date, the city-state has attracted leading industry players such as Renewable Energy Corporation,Vestas Wind Systems and Det Norske Vertias.

The Clean Energy Programme Office (CEPO) was formed to synergise the government's efforts to grow the industry. CEPO is an inter-agency workgroup comprising of different governmental agencies and is responsible for planning and executing strategies to develop Singapore into a global Clean Energy hub.
 

CEPO has since launched several complementary programmes. The Solar Capability Scheme (SCS) and Clean Energy Research and Testbedding (CERT) Programme are two of the several initiatives by CEPO to develop the solar energy industry in Singapore.

Launched in 2008 for the private sector, the S$20 million SCS seeks to encourage innovative design and integration of solar panels into green buildings. The objective of the scheme is to build up the capabilities of our solar energy systems integrators through increased adoption by lead users in Singapore. 

The S$17 million CERT is targeted at the public sector and complements the SCS.
Launched in 2007, CERT aims to provide opportunities for companies to develop and test clean energy applications and solutions using government buildings and facilities in Singapore.

Another CEPO programme is the S$50 million Clean Energy Research Programme which supports R&D efforts in academia and industry.

1. S$50 million Clean Energy Research Programme (CERP)
2. S$25 million NRF (Clean Energy) PhD Scholarships and Company Scholarship
3. Quickstart: Quickstart is a repayable grant programme that seeks to nurture Singapore-based clean energy startups under the guidance of approved incubators. The aim is to ensure that there is a conducive local landscape in which startup companies can thrive and become global players in the clean energy industry.
4. S$20 Million Solar Capability Scheme (SCS)
5. S$17 million Clean Energy Research & Testbedding Programme (CERT)

In 2008, one of the most comprehensive solar research centres in Asia – The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) – was established. Housed at the National University of Singapore, the centre will draw upon the university’s strengths in research areas such as nano-science, silicon thin film technology and semiconductor processing. The centre with about 90 researchers currently, is led by the prominent solar scientist Professor Joachim Luther, who was formerly the director of the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany.

Manufacturing solar wafers, cells and modules has many parallels with semiconductor and electronics manufacturing processes. Our position as a major semiconductor hub, coupled with all-round capabilities from the precision engineering and chemicals industries, provides us with a headstart in the solar industry.

In addition, Singapore is an efficient base for companies keen to develop potential cutting-edge clean energy solutions tailored for Asia, given our excellent supply chain capabilities and linkages to the region. For instance, there are about one billion people across Asia without access to grid electricity which represents an untapped market for solar power.

The country's strong foundation in oil lends the biofuels industry not only ready infrastructure and synergies with downstream chemical projects, but also infrastructure for biofuels trading activities. Come 2010, Singapore will be home to the world's most advanced and largest commercial-scale biodiesel facility producing diesel fuel from renewable feedstocks. This 1.5 generation biofuel plant constructed by Neste Oil is testament to the country's strong base of biofuels manufacturing investments. Singapore is also one of the first locations in Asia for biodiesel pricing after Platts launched daily assessments for biodiesel loading in Southeast Asia in January 2008. In addition, the Republic actively backs industry R&D to develop and deploy biofuel technologies of the second generation and beyond. These technologies will focus on sustainable and higher value renewable products.

Singapore's extensive connectivity with the regional markets and highly cosmopolitan workforce has also attracted the R&D efforts of international technology players in the wind and tidal energy sectors, further fortifying our innovation capabilities in the cleantech domain. Vestas Wind Systems, the world's top wind technology company, will invest up to S$500 million over the next 10 years in Singapore to develop its largest R&D centre outside of its home country, Denmark. Vestas also opened its regional headquarters in Singapore in 2007.

Singapore is emerging as a leading hub for carbon services companies in the Asia-Pacific region. We have around 30 carbon companies in Singapore today, including banks and other MNCs that have set up origination desks in Singapore for carbon credits. Singapore offers strong value propositions as a pan-Asian base for carbon services companies to build and expand their businesses in the region and beyond. First, the S.E Asian region is one of the biggest sources of carbon credits after China and India. Singapore's strategic location in the region and our pro-business environment provides an ideal base for companies to tap on the regional market. Second, being a financial and legal services hub in Asia, Singapore is home to nearly 600 financial institutions and 9 of the top 10 international law firms. As these firms are key partners in the development of low carbon projects and transaction of carbon credits, carbon services companies can use Singapore to form partnerships with these firms as they access the regional market. Leading companies like Tricorona, Sindicatum Carbon Capital and Carbon Conservation have set up major hubs in Singapore.