The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Singapore and Innovation Norway, in collaboration with the following partners: Energy Studies Institute, Norwegian Business Association (Singapore), ISEAS and SEAS organised The Norway Singapore Energy Conference: “Sustainable Energy Future” on 25 September. Ambassador Janne Julsrud opened the conference which took place at the Shangri-La Hotel. The all day event was attended by 320 participants – mostly Singaporeans. StatoilHydro and REC sponsored the event.
Over the past couple of years energy security has moved to the to of the international agenda. The average oil price during the period 1985 to 2002 was about $21 a barrel. In June 2008 it was $146. Recently, global focus has fallen upon the flip side of the energy production and consumption – namely climate concerns.
Norway has been an energy producer and exporter of some magnitude for quite a number of years. We have developed internationally recognised technology in various energy sectors. In addition, Norwegians are a very environmentally conscious people, and considerable sums of both public and private funds have been invested in order to find solutions to emission problems.
Parts of this legacy are known here in Singapore, whereas others most likely are not. Consequently, the Norwegian Embassy wanted to take this opportunity to share some of our experiences and concerns and highlight the possibilities for cooperation with Singapore. And finally – and very ambitiously – we saw the possibility of shedding some light on how the global community can deal with the joint problem of energy security and climate concerns while taking a peak at what Norway’s and Singapore’s roles in this picture might be.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Singapore, in collaboration with the following partners: Energy Studies Institute, Norwegian Business Association (Singapore), Innovation Norway, ISEAS and SEAS; therefore organised The Norway Singapore Energy Conference: Sustainable Energy Future on 25 September. Ambassador Janne Julsrud, opened the conference which took place at the Shangri-La Hotel. The all day event was attended by 320 participants – mostly Singaporeans. StatoilHydro and REC sponsored the event.
Norway’s Key Note Speech was delivered by Director General Odd Sverre Haraldsen, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. His speech focused on Norway – The Energy Nation; including renewable energy. Thematically, this coincided well with the implementation of the initial phase of REC’s investment in Singapore. Construction of REC’s $ 3 bill. Tuas plant is well under way and the official ground breaking is scheduled to take place at the end of October. The Norwegian Embassy congratulates Singapore on being chosen from more than 200 locations worldwide, as the site for what will be the world’s largest solar manufacturing plant.
All the excellent presentations held at the conference, can be downloaded here: