Western Island Reclamation Offers Space for Low-Carbon Energy and a Next-Generation Energy Hub, Say Analysts

At the National Day Rally on 23 August, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong outlined plans to form a new island south of Jurong Island in the coming decades for industry, energy and defence needs, by merging islands such as Pulau Semakau, Pulau Bukom and Pulau Sudong.

Analysts told The Straits Times that the new island would allow Singapore to design from scratch an integrated hub involving a range of low-carbon energy sources that can support Jurong Island, boosting the nation’s long-term energy security by creating space for technology that may only become feasible in the longer term.

Nuclear energy infrastructure is one of the possible options among a host of low-carbon energy sources that can be sited on the island, they said. That said, they cautioned against seeing the deployment of nuclear energy as the aim of the reclamation, stressing that Singapore has yet to make a decision on the power source, which it is exploring as a low-carbon alternative, and noting the need for more detailed studies.

Matthew Chew, nuclear competency and strategy lead at engineering consultancy HY, said that the new island would give Singapore the long-term physical space to accommodate technologies and energy systems that may not yet be commercially mature, but could become critical over the next decades. “Singapore could design the island as an integrated energy hub where gas, low-carbon fuels, electricity imports, storage, renewables and potentially nuclear eventually operate together,” he said.

Tan-Soo Jie Sheng, director of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, noted that while western Singapore has a large industrial footprint, much of that land is already committed to existing uses. “Hence, what Singapore needs is sufficiently large, contiguous sites that can accommodate the new industries and energy infrastructure it may need several decades from now.”

He added that offshore land also provides direct maritime access and the opportunity to build large-scale and difficult-to-site energy infrastructure from scratch. “These characteristics could make it particularly suitable for activities that are land or energy-intensive, require port access, or benefit from greater physical buffers,” said Tan-Soo. “Possibilities include next-generation energy and chemical industries, hydrogen and ammonia-related activities, advanced manufacturing, and large-scale energy infrastructure.”

Sing Tien Foo, provost chair professor of real estate at NUS Business School, said the offshore island will prepare Singapore for the next wave of industrialisation, for which it will need to build a sufficient land bank in advance to attract investment in these greener, high-value-add industries.

“New industries that require massive infrastructure investment, are to be segregated from high-density residential housing estates, and will require intensive energy and water resources, are ideal on the island. By isolating these advanced and precision manufacturing risks, they could also protect against other types of human risks, including fire and pollution,” said Sing.

Tan-Soo noted that, fundamentally, no one knows what the most important industries will be in 2050 or 2070, just as planners of the past did not know the scale of today’s demand for data centres and digital infrastructure, and the new site would offer flexibility.

Strategically, the move to form a second energy island beside Jurong will build resilience for Singapore’s energy system, said Marsh Asia’s energy and power leader Benjamin Chang. He said: “Singapore’s energy security strategy has always been about creating options before you need them.”

Chew said several factors could make the offshore industrial site a candidate for nuclear energy. These include access to seawater that can reduce the distance needed to convey water to cool nuclear power plants, as well as giving the land-constrained city-state more flexibility without locking up a major parcel on the mainland, he said, citing how nuclear power can represent a commitment of land for potentially 60 years or more.

Analysts said that proximity to the Singapore Armed Forces could confer greater security, but there could be trade-offs. “The colocation of SAF on the island could also enhance security and protect valuable manufacturing plants from potential intrusion by imposing strict controls on access from unrelated parties and by establishing military zones that reduce the risk of sabotage or drone incursions,” said Sing. “This mirrors the existing model on Jurong Island, where strict access controls and security protocols protect high-value petrochemical and energy facilities. SAF proximity would reinforce the new island’s role as a secure, strategic node for Singapore’s future energy system,” said Sing.

Chu Jian, a professor at NTU and its president’s chair in civil engineering, pointed out that while the military runway on Pulau Sudong could make the future development much easier to plan, there could also be restrictions on construction activities, such as height controls. Experts cautioned that use of the reclaimed island could mean navigating complex hurdles such as sea-level rise, emergency access and environmental impacts given its scale. Said NUS Energy Studies Institute senior research fellow Kim Jeong Won: “Significant investment would be needed for land reclamation, transport links, utility networks and grid connections, potentially making offshore generation more expensive than developing existing sites.”

While the island holds economic potential, this will need to be weighed against environmental trade-offs. One analyst noted: “The southern islands contain some of Singapore’s most valuable marine ecosystems. Reclamation is effectively irreversible, so the ecological cost needs to be explicitly valued rather than treated simply as an environmental permitting issue.”

Another likewise said that the new island will be “critical” for economic development, but acknowledged the need to consider biodiversity and environmental concerns. “It’s always going to be a very delicate balance on competing needs,” he added.

Feasibility and environmental studies “will help build a clearer picture of any impacts on marine ecosystems and how these could be managed”, another said. “In a land-constrained country like Singapore, evaluating the best use case of the land, while balancing economic, environmental and social priorities, is always top of mind,” she said. Analysts also called for the island to integrate sustainable innovations, noting: “Waste heat could support water production, treated wastewater could be reused industrially, carbon dioxide could potentially become a feedstock, and recovered materials could support construction.”

The new island will include Pulau Bukom, where Aster Chemicals and Energy operates a refinery and is developing a sustainable aviation fuel plant. When asked how its operations will be impacted, a spokesperson said that the company will work closely with the government “to explore how Bukom can contribute to this next chapter, while continuing to operate our facilities safely and reliably”.