Comprehensive study will identify weak areas that need improvement
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 23 Sep 09;
(SINGAPORE) Singapore is carrying out a holistic review of its critical electricity and gas network systems to identify potential weak spots which can be beefed up, so as to prevent any major power failures which can be costly for the economy.
The thorough study will be carried out all the way down the line - from gas receiving terminals and gas pipelines to facilities in the power stations, underground electricity transmission systems, etc.
The aim is to make the electricity and gas systems - which are interrelated and with many interdependent operations - more robust, especially as more new players are expected to enter the market shortly.
'Additional generation capacity of about 1,700 MW is expected to come on stream around 2013,' the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said in its tender document for the study, while the new $1-1.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Jurong Island, construction of which is scheduled to begin in January, is also expected to start operating in 2013.
The study, expected to take five-and-a-half months, follows several electricity blackouts or near incidents here over the last few years, triggered primarily by disruptions to natural gas supplies from Indonesia and Malaysia, with these affecting operations down the line. The last one happened in November last year, EMA chief executive Lawrence Wong told BT in a recent interview, when lightning struck Singapore's onshore gas receiving facility, and EMA had to activate the standard operating procedure for the power stations to switch to a liquid fuel to ensure that electricity supplies were not disrupted.
In a bid to prevent any future occurrences, EMA is now inviting bids for a consultant to form a project team to carry out the review of the electricity and gas systems 'to identify all potential vulnerabilities' and 'to provide mitigation options to address these'.
The two systems are critically interlinked in that 80 per cent of the electricity here is generated from natural gas, with the remainder 20 per cent from fuel oil and refuse incineration.
The present five generation companies here - Senoko Power, PowerSeraya, Tuas Power, Keppel Merlimau Cogen and Sembcorp Cogen - which provide a total 9,691 MW of generating capacity, use mainly their more efficient combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) to produce the electricity.
As such, CCGTs account for 62 per cent of the gencos' current installed generation capacity, with another 3 per cent being open cycle gas turbines. The remainder 35 per cent comprises steam turbines (which use fuel oil or diesel as feedstock).
The consultant's study will cover areas including onshore gas receiving terminals here; the gas pipeline network; standby fuel management including that of fuel oil, diesel and alternative gas sources at each power station; emergency fuel switching during gas disruption; and also the predominantly underground electricity transmission system.
It will look at details such as design; protection and control; operation and maintenance; and emergency responses for such facilities. The study will however, not cover system vulnerabilities arising from terrorism or sabotage.
EMA said that although it is carrying out the study, the findings will be made available to a number of stakeholders, including government agencies; electricity and gas licensees; fuel suppliers; and the electricity and gas network operators.
On the upcoming new generation capacity, EMA did not spell out where the additional 1,700 MW expected here around 2013 will come from, although this most likely includes India's GMR - with its planned $1.2 billion, 800MW Island Power project - for which it is now trying to source Indonesian natural gas.
Tuas Power is also mulling a US$2 billion coal/biomass plant to produce mainly steam, although the plant will also produce 180 MW of electricity; while Sembcorp is considering a second cogen plant based on waste-to-energy technology, but has not disclosed its scale.
