U.S. AND SINGAPORE ENERGY PARTNERSHIPS

UNCLAS SINGAPORE 000540 SENSITIVE SIPDIS EAP/EP - LHAWLEY EAP/MTS - MCOPPOLA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECIN ENRG APECO ECON SN SUBJECT: U.S. AND SINGAPORE ENERGY PARTNERSHIPS REF: STATE 52444 ¶1. (SBU) Singapore is the world's third largest oil-refining center and a highly developed economy with substantial foreign investment in the energy sector. Energy-related projects and research are typically funded by multinational corporations and academic institutions with a presence here. The United States does not provide foreign assistance to Singapore to develop energy projects and Post is not aware of any established USG and GOS energy partnerships as outlined in reftel. However, Sandia National Laboratories is currently proposing a transportation energy program called The Transformational Energy Innovation Laboratory (TEIL). If Sandia's proposal is successful, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Singapore National Research Foundation, which is a department in the Prime Minister's Office, would jointly fund the TEIL. ¶2. (SBU) According to Sandia contacts, the TEIL would be housed at the Singapore Campus for Research Excellence and Technology Enterprise (CREATE) and would focus its research on: Energy Systems Analysis through a Global Energy Analysis Center (GEAC); Transformational Nanomaterials Science and Engineering for Energy (NSEE); and Biorefinery science and scale-up engineering at an Integrated Biorefinery Testbed (IBT). Sandia has stated that the TEIL would require total joint funding of approximately US$30 million per year for five years, and most of the funds would be spent in Singapore. Sandia anticipates beginning the TEIL with the U.S.-Singapore partnership but potentially expanding it to include collaborations with academic institutions and other economies such as China. SHIELDS