Singapore: Electricity Generation Through History
Electricity generation in Singapore’s just over 60 year history as an independent country has consisted almost entirety of self generated power from imported oil and gas. It has already once shifted its electricity generation sector from being almost completely oil based to a mix of natural gas, oil and a small amount of solar energy [2] but now faces a new challenge of transitioning to a green energy supply.
This decision to generate its own power has come from a deliberate policy to maintain control over a resilient power system that enabled industrialisation and economic development [7]. Looking back at how the generation capacity has grown since early independence can help us understand how Singapore as a whole has grown.
Early days of oil
1950s to the mid 1970s
Chart showing the approximate electricity generation capacity in Singapore from 1953 to 1975. At this time, all grid electricity was generated by oil.
Following the second world war Singapore found itself as a colony in the collapsing British Empire, dealing with dated, war damaged infrastructure [4]. The limited electricity supply came from St James Power Station built in 1926 in Singapore’s HarbourFront district. This proved increasingly unreliable as demand from the colonial era energy supply increasingly outstripped supply, requiring frequent load shedding was frequent.
To combat this the Pasir Panjang A Power Station was built west of the existing facility, slightly further from the growing downtown. This oil burning steam turbine power station, was commissioned in stages from the 1950s to 1965, bringing more reliable load and much greater capacity to the island [5].
Following a brief stint within the Federation of Malay before being ejected for ‘political and ethnic tensions’ Singapore’s new government identified that continuing to develop generation capacity would be critical to achieving its industrialisation policies [7]. An additional power station, Pasir Panjang B, was constructed and commissioned in 1965. This nearly doubled the generation capacity of the island and would prove sufficient until the mid 70s.
Expansion and growth
Mid 1970s to 1991
From 1975, huge growth in generation capacity begins. Initially led by oil generators at Senoko, dual-fuel generation is quickly brought online, followed by the first gas-only generation in the mid-1980s. [3]
Singapore now had a modern electricity supply solidly built on oil generation. Through the next decades Singapore’s population grew and this along with a growing and energy hungry industrial sector meant that by the mid seventies additional generation capacity was under development. In 1976 Senoko Power Station opened in the north of the island with a capacity of 360MW which would eventually grow to over 2,300MW and remains the country’s largest power station [3]. Pulau Seraya Power Station also opened on Jurong Island as part of a larger industrial development in the Southwest [6].
At this point the whole electricity generation supply ran on oil and, as such, was completely exposed to global oil price fluctuations. The 1973 Oil Crisis saw the price of crude oil quadruple and the 1979 Iranian Revolution saw prices double again. This led Singapore to seek a more diversified energy supply and to develop dual-fuel electricity generation capacity [2].
Gas and regional reliance
1991 to 2013
Massive growth in capacity continues through additional gas generation enabled by regional pipelines. The first waste-to-energy facilities are also brought online at this time [1], [2].
While Singapore had been producing town gas, the development of natural gas pipelines from its neighbours enabled an immense increase in capacity in new natural gas fired electricity generation facilities. 1992 saw the first supply of natural gas by pipeline from Johor in Malaysia followed in 2001 and 2003 by supply from West Natuna and South Sumatra in Indonesia respectively [2]. This marked a change in Singapore’s energy supply that now relied more heavily on its direct neighbours with 90% of natural gas supply coming through pipeline by 2013 [8]. Again diversification was in order.
LNG and the beginnings of renewable generation
2013 to today
One of Singapore’s Floating Solar Farms
By now Singapore’s generation capacity, even accounting for decommissioning at the end of life of several of its earlier power plants, massively outstripped its peak load requirements.
While the expansion in gas generation slows (and is possibly reduced, though definitive sources are hard to find), solar is first brought into the grid. Here, we can see historic peak demand against capacity, showing that at all times since 2008, Singapore has maintained a significant overcapacity as a margin.
Singapore’s measured, deliberate approach to power generation has been marked by cautious diversification and a preference for reliability over risk. Even as global calls for decarbonisation have grown louder, Singapore has continued to tread carefully, gradually increasing its solar generation capacity in a country with limited land and high urban density. Rooftop solar and floating PV systems now dot the island, contributing a small but growing share of supply. Looking forward, Singapore is aiming beyond its immediate neighbours to large-scale solar imports through regional ASEAN power grids and ambitious (if not unlikely) projects like SunCable in Australia [9]. These point to a future where the island could tap into vast renewable energy resources from its neighbours while maintaining the resilience and control it has always looked to maintain.
Data Sources & References
Charts have been compiled using publicly available generation capacity data with approximate commissioning and decommissioning dates.
[1] City Energy’s Gas Production Overview
[2] Singapore Energy Story – Powering Lives SG
[3] Overview of Senoko Energy (Wikiwand)
[4] History of Electricity Providers in Singapore – Worthview
[5] 1965 Article on Electricity Supply Issues (Straits Times Archive)
[6] Pulau Seraya & Industrial Development in Singapore – National Library Board
[7] Energising Singapore: 50 Years of Power Sector Development (PDF)
[8] ASEAN Power Grid – ASEAN Energy
[9] SunCable Project – Australia to Singapore Solar Proposal