The government will pick a lead developer from the six for the planned Jurong Island project

 

CONSORTIUMS connected to Sembcorp Industries : U96 -0.22%, Keppel Corporation : BN4 -2.82%, Jurong Port, Engie, Tuas Power, and YTL PowerSeraya are the six shortlisted entities vying to provide a low- or zero-carbon ammonia solution for power generation and bunkering on Jurong Island, industry sources told The Business Times (BT).

 

Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Monday (Oct 23) that the government had received 26 proposals from an expression-of-interest exercise launched in December 2022 to explore the possibility of developing an end-to-end ammonia solution for Jurong Island. Of those, six will be invited to take part in a request for proposal, following which one will be chosen as a lead developer for the project. The government has not announced which organisations are among the six.

 

The sources, who spoke to BT on condition of anonymity due to commercial sensitivities, shared that the consortium partners for Jurong Port, a Singapore-headquartered port operator, are from Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Jera, Japan&rsquo s largest power generation company. 

 

Tuas Power&rsquo s partners are French power utility company EDF and Japanese trading company Itochu, which has been working on building a global ammonia supply chain network, including promoting the development of ammonia bunkering in Singapore.

 

They also shared that the other four consortiums are connected to Sembcorp, Keppel, Engie, and YTL PowerSeraya. The other partners in those consortiums are not known to BT at this time.

 

When approached, a Keppel spokesperson said: &ldquo As the process to appoint a lead developer is in progress, we are unable to comment further.&rdquo

 

YTL PowerSeraya and Tuas Power confirmed that they are among the shortlisted entities, and separately noted that they are awaiting more details for the request for proposal.

 

Izumi Kai, Jera&rsquo s executive officer and head of its platform business division, said he has heard about being shortlisted, and is waiting for official confirmation from the Singapore authorities. The others did not provide comments for this story.

 

Japanese dominance

From what BT has gathered, Japanese industrial players are involved in at least two of the shortlisted consortiums. 

 

Asked about Japanese companies&rsquo dominance, Jera&rsquo s Kai told BT that the company&rsquo s expertise came about due to a national target to start introducing ammonia in commercial operations. The process involves blending ammonia with coal in its boilers, in a process called ammonia co-firing.

 

Bets were placed on ammonia &ndash which does not emit carbon dioxide when burned &ndash as it allows for a transition away from coal combustion, while still ensuring a stable supply of electricity, he said. 

 

Ammonia co-firing has drawn its fair share of criticism, as the technology was seen as an attempt to increase the life cycle of coal-fired plants, while stunting renewable adoption.

 

But Kai stressed that &ldquo stable supply must come first&rdquo as Jera supplies 30 per cent of Japan&rsquo s energy demand. He added that zero coal combustion is the goal, but that would require support from outside of Japan.

 

&ldquo Green hydrogen and ammonia needs to be produced from natural gas or renewables. Unfortunately, Japan has limited potential for those fuels,&rdquo he remarked.

 

Nevertheless, Kai said the plan for the Jurong Island project is to build a 100 per cent ammonia combustion engine the imagined model does not involve mixing ammonia with natural gas.

 

From right: Jera&rsquo s Izumi Kai, Summit Power International&rsquo s Darren Chua, Tuas Power&rsquo s Michael Wong, and S& P Global Commodity Insight&rsquo s Irfan Choudhry at the Asia Hydrogen & LNG Markets Conference. PHOTO: WONG PEI TING, BT

Chong Zhi Xin, an expert on emerging Asia gas and liquefied natural gas markets at S& P Global Commodity Insights, said it would not surprise him to see Japanese companies feature strongly on the shortlist, since many of them are leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). 

 

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is one. IHI Corporation, which Sembcorp said it is working with on another ammonia project just two days ago, is another, he pointed out.

 

&ldquo It&rsquo s always the leading OEMs that would do technologies that are more at the forefront,&rdquo Chong said. And while other players might have developed ammonia solutions as well, it was the Japanese that &ldquo have really proved it on a commercial scale&rdquo with ammonia co-firing, he added.

 

Singapore gencos on the list

Engie, the French multinational utility company, is associated with Senoko Energy, one of Singapore&rsquo s largest power generation companies, or gencos for short. YTL PowerSeraya, Tuas Power, Sembcorp and Keppel are also involved in power generation here.

 

A few of the sources said the Singapore gencos could have stood out because a big part of the end-to-end ammonia solution to be worked out involves power generation using ammonia.

 

One part of the Jurong Island project would involve figuring out means to generate 55 to 65 MW of electricity from imported low- or zero-carbon ammonia via direct combustion in a gas turbine or combined cycle gas turbine.

 

The second part of the proposal involves ammonia bunkering at a capacity of at least 0.1 million tonnes per annum, starting with shore-to-ship bunkering followed by ship-to-ship bunkering.

 

The government had indicated that it will work closely with the selected developer to implement the project given the nascency of the technology and global supply chains.

 

The project would position Singapore as one of the first countries to test and deploy a direct ammonia combustion power plant, as well as support the assessment of ammonia bunkering for both international shipping and domestic harbour craft, Singapore&rsquo s Energy Market Authority and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore have said. If proven viable, the project would contribute significantly to unlocking the potential of low-carbon ammonia as a low-carbon fuel, the agencies added.

 

The government will pick a lead developer from the six for the planned Jurong Island project

 

CONSORTIUMS connected to Sembcorp Industries : U96 -0.22%, Keppel Corporation : BN4 -2.82%, Jurong Port, Engie, Tuas Power, and YTL PowerSeraya are the six shortlisted entities vying to provide a low- or zero-carbon ammonia solution for power generation and bunkering on Jurong Island, industry sources told The Business Times (BT).

 

Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Monday (Oct 23) that the government had received 26 proposals from an expression-of-interest exercise launched in December 2022 to explore the possibility of developing an end-to-end ammonia solution for Jurong Island. Of those, six will be invited to take part in a request for proposal, following which one will be chosen as a lead developer for the project. The government has not announced which organisations are among the six.

 

The sources, who spoke to BT on condition of anonymity due to commercial sensitivities, shared that the consortium partners for Jurong Port, a Singapore-headquartered port operator, are from Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Jera, Japan&rsquo s largest power generation company. 

 

Tuas Power&rsquo s partners are French power utility company EDF and Japanese trading company Itochu, which has been working on building a global ammonia supply chain network, including promoting the development of ammonia bunkering in Singapore.

 

They also shared that the other four consortiums are connected to Sembcorp, Keppel, Engie, and YTL PowerSeraya. The other partners in those consortiums are not known to BT at this time.

 

When approached, a Keppel spokesperson said: &ldquo As the process to appoint a lead developer is in progress, we are unable to comment further.&rdquo

 

YTL PowerSeraya and Tuas Power confirmed that they are among the shortlisted entities, and separately noted that they are awaiting more details for the request for proposal.

 

Izumi Kai, Jera&rsquo s executive officer and head of its platform business division, said he has heard about being shortlisted, and is waiting for official confirmation from the Singapore authorities. The others did not provide comments for this story.

 

Japanese dominance

From what BT has gathered, Japanese industrial players are involved in at least two of the shortlisted consortiums. 

 

Asked about Japanese companies&rsquo dominance, Jera&rsquo s Kai told BT that the company&rsquo s expertise came about due to a national target to start introducing ammonia in commercial operations. The process involves blending ammonia with coal in its boilers, in a process called ammonia co-firing.

 

Bets were placed on ammonia &ndash which does not emit carbon dioxide when burned &ndash as it allows for a transition away from coal combustion, while still ensuring a stable supply of electricity, he said. 

 

Ammonia co-firing has drawn its fair share of criticism, as the technology was seen as an attempt to increase the life cycle of coal-fired plants, while stunting renewable adoption.

 

But Kai stressed that &ldquo stable supply must come first&rdquo as Jera supplies 30 per cent of Japan&rsquo s energy demand. He added that zero coal combustion is the goal, but that would require support from outside of Japan.

 

&ldquo Green hydrogen and ammonia needs to be produced from natural gas or renewables. Unfortunately, Japan has limited potential for those fuels,&rdquo he remarked.

 

Nevertheless, Kai said the plan for the Jurong Island project is to build a 100 per cent ammonia combustion engine the imagined model does not involve mixing ammonia with natural gas.

 

From right: Jera&rsquo s Izumi Kai, Summit Power International&rsquo s Darren Chua, Tuas Power&rsquo s Michael Wong, and S& P Global Commodity Insight&rsquo s Irfan Choudhry at the Asia Hydrogen & LNG Markets Conference. PHOTO: WONG PEI TING, BT

Chong Zhi Xin, an expert on emerging Asia gas and liquefied natural gas markets at S& P Global Commodity Insights, said it would not surprise him to see Japanese companies feature strongly on the shortlist, since many of them are leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). 

 

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is one. IHI Corporation, which Sembcorp said it is working with on another ammonia project just two days ago, is another, he pointed out.

 

&ldquo It&rsquo s always the leading OEMs that would do technologies that are more at the forefront,&rdquo Chong said. And while other players might have developed ammonia solutions as well, it was the Japanese that &ldquo have really proved it on a commercial scale&rdquo with ammonia co-firing, he added.

 

Singapore gencos on the list

Engie, the French multinational utility company, is associated with Senoko Energy, one of Singapore&rsquo s largest power generation companies, or gencos for short. YTL PowerSeraya, Tuas Power, Sembcorp and Keppel are also involved in power generation here.

 

A few of the sources said the Singapore gencos could have stood out because a big part of the end-to-end ammonia solution to be worked out involves power generation using ammonia.

 

One part of the Jurong Island project would involve figuring out means to generate 55 to 65 MW of electricity from imported low- or zero-carbon ammonia via direct combustion in a gas turbine or combined cycle gas turbine.

 

The second part of the proposal involves ammonia bunkering at a capacity of at least 0.1 million tonnes per annum, starting with shore-to-ship bunkering followed by ship-to-ship bunkering.

 

The government had indicated that it will work closely with the selected developer to implement the project given the nascency of the technology and global supply chains.

 

The project would position Singapore as one of the first countries to test and deploy a direct ammonia combustion power plant, as well as support the assessment of ammonia bunkering for both international shipping and domestic harbour craft, Singapore&rsquo s Energy Market Authority and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore have said. If proven viable, the project would contribute significantly to unlocking the potential of low-carbon ammonia as a low-carbon fuel, the agencies added.