Indonesia

Developers are moving fast to meet Singapore’s clean energy needs by establishing overseas solar-plus-storage plants, with a strong focus on facilities in neighbouring Indonesia.

Developers are moving fast to meet Singapore’s clean energy needs by establishing overseas solar-plus-storage plants, with a strong focus on facilities in neighbouring Indonesia.

A partnership between Quantum Power Asia and Berlin-based ib vogt is proposing a 3.5 GW solar and storage facility in Riau, Indonesia, an archipelago of islands south of Singapore. The AUD$6.7 billion potential project aims to export the generated solar to the Singaporean city-state by 2032, meeting 8% of its electricity needs.

Indonesia has set itself some ambitious goals for PV manufacturing, backed by domestic content requirements and other incentives. But local demand is limited, and the nation faces stiff competition from China and other countries on the export market. While real obstacles remain, a restructuring of state-owned electricity company PLN and local raw material riches mean the potential is growing.

Floating PV is a growing niche in the solar sector, but its offshore segment has proven more difficult to activate, largely because of the difficulty of open-water energy generation. Nevertheless, the potential of offshore floating PV is almost unlimited, and one Singaporean firm, G8 Subsea, is looking to leave the safety of harbours and reservoirs.

The owner of the 100 MW Merredin Solar Farm in Western Australia has confirmed it will look to accelerate its roll out of renewable energy projects in the Asia-Pacific region after raising more than $34 million in Series A financing.

Indonesian solar PV developer SUN Energy has announced itself in the Australian market, revealing it will purchase the largest solar farm in Western Australia as part of its bold ambition to become a major player in the APAC renewable energy market.

The 145 MW Cirata floating PV project achieved financial close in August. The developers claim that the array, which covers 200 hectares of the water’s surface, is an example of transferring new technology that will pave the way for Indonesia’s solar industry and enable the setting of new policies.

The Australian-Singapore group behind a proposed 20 GW solar PV farm and 42 GWh battery energy storage project being developed in Australia’s remote far north has hinted other, similar-sized projects are already in the pipeline.

A roadmap to rapid carbon emission reduction has suggested the nation add 2.4 GW of generation capacity next year as part of a 15 GW new-solar target this decade. The claims of solar-plus-storage should be ignored for now, according to a new policy document, because batteries will make PV less competitive with coal.