At the Singapore Energy Lecture on 26 October 2026, Minister Dr Tan See Leng shared that a geophysical survey estimated Singapore’s geothermal technical potential at more than 60 times our annual electricity consumption of around 60 TWh. High-temperature resources were found several kilometres underground. EMA has appointed a Surbana Jurong and GLJ consortium to run a feasibility study of about 15 months from end-2026, covering safety, technical viability and cost.
About 95% of our electricity comes from imported natural gas. Solar is intermittent and land-hungry. Geothermal, by contrast, is home-grown, clean and runs 24/7, the energy version of a reliable dividend stock that pays every month without fail. My last post only talked about nuclear as our energy “fifth tap”. Geothermal now gives us a possible sixth. Together, they could move Singapore from near-total import dependence towards real energy self-sufficiency.
A dose of
realism though. Technical potential is not the same as economically
recoverable. Deep drilling is costly, safety comes first in a dense city, and
no decision to deploy has been made yet. Think of this as a promising
exploration result, not a producing oil field. Still, far better than a dry
well.
To my fellow Singaporeans: please stop arguing with Indonesian government supporters online over the haze and gas cut. These debates are impossible to win and meaningless. Nobody changes their mind because of a clever comment, and the noise only feeds politicians who like painting Singapore as the villain. Ordinary Indonesians suffer from the haze as much as we do. Talk is of no use, and keyboard wars do not keep the lights on.
4. Lay Low and Build
Singapore
beat the water threats not by shouting, but by quietly building NEWater and
desalination plants. Energy should follow the same playbook. Lay low and build
up our nuclear and geothermal capabilities for self-sufficiency. The groundwork
is already happening: five new power plants will come online between 2026 and
2031, and Sembcorp will get conditional approval to import up to 1.3 GW of
renewable electricity via Peninsular Malaysia. Every new source is one less
lever anyone can pull on us.
Laying low does not mean rolling over. The proper channel is our PM and ministers. PM Lawrence Wong has said Singapore expects all parties to honour their commitments, and Gas Supply will check for any breach of contract and pursue remedies if needed. Indonesia insists the cuts are within contract limits, but coming right after threats against countries that “disrespect” it, the spirit of a reliable partnership has clearly been dented. Our leaders must respond firmly through proper channels. Total silence would signal such moves are cost-free and invite more gas cuts.
Energy security is now a firm national priority, which usually means sustained capital spending. Sembcorp Industries and Keppel Ltd sit right in this theme through power generation, regional imports and low-carbon projects. Geothermal itself is a long-dated story with no quick trade, but a Singapore that generates more of its own power is a safer home for capital, businesses, data centres and our REITs. As always, this is my personal view, not financial advice.
Overall, I am happy. Nuclear plus geothermal could be a real game changer for a country long thought to have no natural resources. Let our leaders handle the diplomacy and let our engineers do the quiet work,
Ok folks,
that’s all from me today. Have a great week ahead!
No comments:
Post a Comment