Singapore’s Sunseap Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the provincial government of Indonesia’s Riau Islands to develop large-scale solar energy and storage plants that will supply electricity to the Riau Islands and Singapore.

The MoU covers the availability of 3,000 ha of land for Sunseap to build solar energy plants and energy storage systems (ESS).

Sunseap has conducted surveys, location mappings, technical planning, and environmental and social impact analyses on several islands in the Riau Islands province, including Combol and Citlim islands.

At Combol, the company has looked into the feasibility of a 1,380 megawatt peak (MWp) solar power plant and a 3,000 megawatt hour (MWh) ESS, while on Citlim Island, a 1,682-MWp solar plant and 3,500-MWh ESS.

Both islands lie southwest of Batam island where Sunseap has signed an MoU with BP Batam last year to build floating photovoltaic and energy storage systems totalling US$2 billion on the Duriangkang reservoir, which will be able to generate 2.2 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of electricity with storage capacity of more than 6,300 MWh.

The latest MoU was signed last month on 19 April, between Sunseap’s co-founder and business CEO Frank Phuan and Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad at the Indonesian embassy in Singapore.

Mr Phuan said, “The Riau Islands are uniquely situated to become a major player in the energy transition in Southeast Asia. Sunseap is excited with this opportunity to work with the provincial government to transform the renewable energy landscape in the Riau archipelago.

“The projects being planned will supply cost-efficient clean energy to surrounding Indonesian communities and Singapore, and importantly, create thousands of jobs in a fast-growing industry for the Riau province.”

Mr Phuan added that the islands experience higher costs of electricity because of their relatively smaller scale of production and the logistics of supply. “We are confident that solar energy, in addition to helping the Riau Islands decarbonise, will also lead to dramatic long-term cost savings for businesses and communities.”

Mr Ahmad commented, “We look forward to working with Sunseap and all its international partners to tap the potential of the Riau Islands, which has an abundance of resources needed to produce renewable energy including sun, wind, biomass and biogas.

“With Sunseap’s expertise, we hope to be able to accelerate our plans to transform Riau Islands into a renewable energy hub in Indonesia and to lower energy costs for our people and our industries.”

A few months ago, Sunseap signed an MoU with various local and international partners to explore and develop solar power and energy storage systems around the Riau Islands. Some of these prominent MoU parties included BP Batam, PT Mustika Combol Indah, PT Agung Sedayu, Sumitomo Corporation, Samsung C&T Corporation, Oriens Asset Management, ESS Inc and Durapower Group.