Can the battle between global solar power market and Singapore LNG
Market ever stop being abrasive and start being cooperative? TechSci explores
whether a mixture of conventional energy and renewables is the right formula.
Singapore is a country that is
taking its climate change responsibilities very seriously. The island has
nearly quadrupled its solar capacity the in past three years, from 33.1MW peak
(MWp) in 2014 to 129.8MWp in Q1 of this year. Singapore is right on track to
reach its and even exceed its 350MWp target. TechSci Research looks at the some
of the major factors, including the rapidly growing Singapore LNG Market, that may influence
the Singapore cleantech market over the coming years.
Challenges on the Road Ahead
Cost remains one of the
obstacles, experts have said, since larger rooftop systems tend to be more
economical compared with smaller systems. But residential use may increase as
the cost of solar panels is expected to drop further as more and more money is
poured into research on boosting capacitance, reducing raw material usage and
prices, and streamlining the economies of scale. However, the biggest challenge
to the global solar power
market comes not just from the high cost of installation and overheads,
but actually from declining natural gas prices.
Natural gas prices have been
declining for quite a while now given the huge inventory backlog. As per
TechSci Research report “Singapore LNG Market Demand & Supply Analysis, 2011-2025”, Singapore LNG Market is projected to
grow at a CAGR of over 10% during 2016-2025 given the declining LNG prices,
strategic geographical location in Asia-Pacific and implementation of
favourable government policies. Since there are many commonalities to the way
in which solar energy and LNG is used, increasing demand of one will quite
possibly imply decreasing demand for the other.
Solar and LNG: A Summary
While LNG and solar are both
relatively clean fuels, solar undoubtedly is the cleaner form of the two.
However, when considering large-scale plants, TechSci experts suggest that Singapore LNG Market is still
highly preferable to global
solar power market given that capital costs of setting up a solar plant
can easily be over ten times the cost of setting up a gas plant. Therefore, the
onus, according to the experts, should be on micro-generation, which the
Singapore government seems to be looking at very carefully. Successful schemes
such as the SolarNova scheme, where agencies such as the Housing Board provide
rooftop space for firms to install panels and aggregate solar energy in return
for discounted electricity rates, should be implemented on a nationwide basis.
A supplementary role played by both the Singapore LNG Market and solar in the other’s propagation and
stability, experts suggest, can be extremely useful in the long run.