Singapore awards geothermal feasibility study after finding heat potential over 60 times its consumption

Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA) awarded a feasibility study for next-generation geothermal plants on 26 October 2026 to a consortium of Surbana Jurong and Canadian consultancy GLJ Ltd, after a geophysical survey estimated a technical potential more than 60 times the country's annual electricity consumption of about 60 TWh, according to Channel NewsAsia.

The announcement was made at Singapore International Energy Week. The study, which will begin in late 2026 and last about 15 months, will cover safety, technical viability and production cost. The EMA stressed that the figure is technical potential and that no decision has been made to deploy geothermal energy; Puah Kok Keong, chief executive of the EMA, said a constant source of local clean energy would strengthen the country's energy resilience and support decarbonisation of the power sector, according to ThinkGeoEnergy.

The phased route is the central point. Between 2024 and 2026, a consortium including Surbana Jurong, Chevron and Metatek Group conducted a non-invasive survey down to 10 km depth and found high temperatures several kilometres below ground. It also identified lower-temperature resources at shallower depths, usable for industrial heating and cooling with heat pumps and absorption chillers. Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said the finding is a good starting point and that, if geothermal energy materialised, it could power the country for about 60 years.

In Mexico, mature geothermal operates on a different model. CFE has exploited Cerro Prieto in Baja California since 1973; the field has 720 MW of installed capacity and generates about 570 MW, according to La Jornada. Enhanced systems, which drill into dry rock where there is no hydrothermal reservoir, are the technology Singapore is targeting.

What to watch: the consortium's report in early 2028, which will define how much energy can be viably extracted and whether Singapore moves to drilling.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.