Agency calls prequalifying tender to build test facility for intelligent energy grid
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 25 Sep 09;
(SINGAPORE) In years to come, you could be looking at the humble electrical socket on your wall in a whole new light.
Singapore is setting up an experimental base for a future islandwide 'smart' energy grid which potentially will be able to incorporate power not just from mainstream power stations but also from new alternative energy sources.
With electric cars looking like becoming viable, one little scenario might involve car owners selling unused electrical power back into the national power grid while being also able to tap into the grid to recharge their batteries as needed.
But the possibilities as to what can be fed into the grid to diversify its sources will be limited only by the imagination and feasible technology. Potential sources could involve biodiesel, solar photo-voltaic cells or any feasible future technology.
Taking a step forward, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) yesterday called a prequalifying tender for a developer to design and build an Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC) microgrid and distributed energy test facility towards realising an intelligent national energy grid.
The EPGC microgrid and distributed energy test facility will be built on Jurong Island. EPGC - a new A*Star research centre based at the Institute of Chemical & Engineering Sciences - aims to be a world-class research centre for intelligent grids and distributed energy resources.
According to A*Star, the EPGC will conduct research, together with other collaboration partners, on intelligent grids, microgrids and on integration of distributed energy resources, including conventional and alternative fuels such as diesel, natural gas, biodiesel and hydrogen in a variety of power network configurations.
The distributed energy resources may include biofuel generators, fuel cells, electrical storage, solar photovoltaic, microturbines and electric, plug-in, hybrid vehicles which can sell back electricity to the system during peak demand hours.
A*Star said that the overall EPGC research infrastructure will comprise a remote command and control (C&C) facility located in Fusionopolis and the distributed energy test facility on Jurong Island. The C&C facility is being developed to support infocomm technologies and computer-based research activities and will also enable remote monitoring and control of the test facility on Jurong Island.
The latest EPGC project follows Energy Market Authority chief executive Lawrence Wong telling BT earlier this month that the development of a smart grid was an area which EMA was looking at together with other agencies here, and that it expects to announce 'the next steps of what we want to do' by year-end.
A smart grid, he said, can potentially allow plug-in electric cars (testing of which will start here next year) to re-sell energy back to the system. It can also integrate renewable energy options - accommodating, for example, the otherwise intermittent power obtained only during sunshine hours from solar panels.
'So when we look at smart grids, we are thinking about how to make our energy grid smarter,' said Mr Wong.
Singapore is already testing the use of smart meters under the Electricity Vending System (EVS) to eventually allow for full retail contestability, where households can choose which retailer to buy electricity from.
The EVS pilot in Marine Parade and West Coast will be completed by November, giving EMA the chance to study the feasibility of deploying it on a larger scale. That could also eventually become an integral component of the smart grid infrastructure here.
A*Star said in its EPGC tender document that the microgrid will be based on a low-voltage network and connected to the main grid. The power that can be generated from the microgrid will be around one megawatt.
This compares with the smallest generating unit of 2.13 MW in the power grid here - that of IUT Singapore's bio-methanisation plant, which creates energy from food-waste.
The tender for design, building, installation, testing and commissioning of the EPGC microgrid and distributed energy test facility - to be sited on Pesek Road, off Jurong Island Highway - will be done in two stages: prequalification, followed by a design-and-build tender.
The estimated timeline for the entire project, from award of tender, is about 15 months.
