Empowering Youths to Reimagine Singapore's Energy Future

Taking place virtually this year, Youth@SIEW provided a platform for government and industry leaders to exchange views with the next generation of energy innovators. Jason Lee reports.

In her opening remarks, Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, shared how the energy industry has to adapt to new ways of learning and different business models after COVID-19, and called for youths to play an active role in Singapore’s energy transformation. 

“To build a stronger and more resilient energy sector, it is important for us to have a strong, capable and highly adaptable core of power engineering professionals. Youths, like yourselves, can play an important role in our energy story, not only as consumers, but also as professionals in this industry,” said Ms Low. 

Guest speaker Mr Kelvin Lim, Group Chief Executive Officer of Durapower Holdings Pte Ltd, echoed Ms Low’s views that Singapore’s energy transformation has brought about new opportunities in the sector.

Mr Lim shared that the deployment of battery energy storage systems had grown rapidly as the energy sector moved towards greener power generation and electric vehicles. He opined that the transition in the energy landscape meant that the industry needed new skillsets from our young graduates and invited youths to be part of the energy transition.

Empowering Our Youths

Launch of two new energy education resources: To spark the interest of youths, Ms Low announced the launch of two energy education resources developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Education – the “360-degree MOE-EMA” Geography Video and the “Boil-off Gas Recovery” Science Video. She hoped that these videos would provide a glimpse into the innovations in the energy sector today, such as Sembcorp Solar’s floating solar farm at Tengeh Reservoir.

Energy Industry Scholarship 2020: Ms Low also announced the award of the Energy-Industry Scholarship, sponsored by SP Group, to two student recipients: James Lum Yew Ji of Singapore Polytechnic, and Liew Zeng Kit Gustavus of Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

“Singapore’s energy sector is evolving towards a more sustainable, resilient and digitalised future, bringing with it new and exciting opportunities. Central to this transformation is innovation, anchored by strong talent,” said Ms Low in her congratulatory remarks.

Youth Energy Showcase

As part of the Youth Energy Showcase, teams from Singapore’s ITEs, polytechnics and universities presented their innovation projects, ranging from next generation electric power transfer in electric vehicles to an “EcoTile” which could harness solar energy.

In closing, Ms Low urged youths to come on board with their creative ideas and co-create a resilient, sustainable, and digitalised energy sector for Singapore.

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