By Gabrielle Ng

SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) - PacificLight Power (PLP) said on Friday it has received approval from the Singapore government to build a new hydrogen-fuelled gas power plant on Jurong Island.

The project forms part of the city state's plans to decarbonise its power grid, which relies on mostly on natural gas to generate power.

With approval from Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA), PLP will build, own, and operate a hydrogen-ready combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility to supply at least 600 megawatts (MW) of power from January 2029, the firm said in a statement.

The island currently houses one CCGT facility owned by PLP, which has been operating since 2014 with a capacity of 830 MW.

The new facility, to be built on a greefield site, will be able to use at least 30% hydrogen at inception and 100% hydrogen in the future, and will also include a large-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), the company said.

The site can accommodate a second CCGT unit and could integrate carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology in future, it added.

PLP is also constructing a Fast Start power generating unit to provide 100MW of power by the second quarter of 2025. Such units can ramp up power output in a short period to ensure continued power supply when unexpected events occur.

Together with Indonesia's Medco Power Global IPO-MEPO.JK and Singapore-based investment firm Gallant Venture GLVT.SI, PLP is also developing a project to import 600MW of solar power from Indonesia's Bulan Island to Singapore.

PLP is owned by shareholders under Hong Kong-based First Pacific Group 0142.HK and the Philippines' power distribution firm Meralco PowerGen Corp.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

((gabrielle.ng@thomsonreuters.com;))