Keppel Infrastructure has taken a final investment decision to build a 600-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine plant on Jurong Island and has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract to a consortium of Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific and Jurong Engineering. The Keppel Sakra Cogen plant is described as the first hydrogen-ready power plant in Singapore, and the total investment is put at about S$750 million.

The fuel detail is the part to hold on to. The plant will run initially on natural gas, is designed to operate on a blend containing 30 per cent hydrogen, and is meant to be capable of shifting to run entirely on hydrogen. As a combined-cycle plant it will also supply steam to the energy and chemicals customers on the island.

What hydrogen-ready means before the hydrogen arrives

The emissions claim rests on efficiency rather than on fuel. Keppel says the plant will be the most efficient among Singapore's operating fleet and will save up to 220,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year compared with the average operating efficiency for equivalent output, which it compares with taking about 47,000 cars off the road. That saving comes from burning gas more efficiently now, not from burning hydrogen.

The plant is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. Until a hydrogen supply and the infrastructure to deliver it exist at scale, the hydrogen-ready design is an option rather than a result, and its value depends on a market that has not yet formed.

A separate arm of the group has signed a memorandum with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to study a hydrogen supply chain, which acknowledges the same gap. The plant can be built on schedule; the fuel it was designed for cannot be promised on the same timetable.