Page 4109 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 December 2022
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critical in affecting large-scale systemic changes. Bringing to bear their resources in the transition to renewable energy will greatly speed up the transition.
At the Singapore International Energy Agency Ministerial Roundtable, the topic for discussion was “Energy Security in a Low-Carbon World”. I shared the ACT’s decarbonisation targets; our experiences in achieving 100 per cent renewable electricity in 2020; how we have begun our transition to electrification, including the natural gas transition; zero emissions vehicles transition; and our Canberra Big Battery energy storage integration.
In turn, speakers from around the world—including Singapore, the International Energy Agency, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, the United States, the United Nations and many more—shared their own experience in building a resilient and zero emissions energy future. I also had the opportunity to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lawrence Wong, and exchanged our similarities and differences as city states to decarbonise our economies.
Following the morning conference sessions, the ACT business delegates completed a site visit to the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, at the National University of Singapore. The delegates toured the facilities and discussed the ongoing research program at the institute. Just like in the ACT, Singapore recognises the importance of research and innovation in creating new business breakthroughs and has a great many exciting streams of research underway.
Tuesday concluded with an ACT delegation networking reception. Representatives from the Singapore business, research and government organisations attended this event. Our ACT delegates provided a two-minute pitch of their organisations to the attendees and then networked with the attendees. This event provided the opportunity to make connections and establish follow-up meetings. I would also like to thank the Australian High Commissioner to Singapore for attending, welcoming the ACT contingent and addressing the gathered attendees.
On Wednesday 26 October I completed two live interviews—one with Channel News Asia, the national broadcaster, and another with Singapore International Energy Week Live Interview. I spoke about the importance of working together and sharing lessons learned with our regional partners to build energy resilience through diversifying our energy system, and to tackle associated health and social issues in the just transition to a net zero future. I met with the Australian High Commissioner and, as I have previously mentioned, the commissioner generously shared his insights into Singapore and ways to strengthen trade and cooperation.
The last event on Wednesday, the ACT-Singapore Climate Roundtable, explored the various pathways to electrification. We heard from participants on a range of issues, including the key challenges being faced today, along with key opportunities between Singapore and Australia that participants thought had significant potential. The wide variety of views expressed by participants and our ACT delegates demonstrated that this energy transition will be multifaceted and will require the integration of many new technologies and specialist skills in solar, wind, battery storage, hydrogen and renewable gases, and energy demand management.
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