Singapore's water success story to be repeated with energy: Chan Chun Sing

Jose Hong Straits Times 30 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE - If the past 50 years have been about how Singapore has overcome water scarcity, the next 50 will be about how the country overcomes its energy challenges.

“Just like how Singapore has successfully diversified our supply of water over the years, our next ambitious goal is to enhance our energy resilience to ensure that we are never dependent on any single source of supply,” said Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Tuesday (Oct 30) at the opening of Singapore International Energy Week at Marina Bay Sands.

To this end, the country is investing in infrastructure, tapping green energy and acting as a test-bed for innovative solutions here and abroad.

He announced new projects and initiatives ranging from ramped-up solar production to greater support for the energy storage systems – essentially gigantic rechargeable batteries – that will enable Singapore to better use solar production.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) will drive the development of energy storage systems, which is crucial for Singapore’s success in harnessing renewable energy.

Solar power is the most promising renewable source for the country, but a major drawback lies in unpredictable sunshine due to cloud cover.

Despite this, the Republic hopes that by 2025 solar power could support about a quarter of national projected peak electricity demand. Today, solar energy accounts for about 2 per cent of the country’s power supply.

EMA therefore announced on Tuesday two partnerships with PSA Corporation and Sembcorp Industries to help roll out energy storage systems on a commercial scale.

The authority also launched a policy paper that it said would continuously evolve as the local energy storage systems landscape develops.

This will support the $17.8 million in grants announced at the 2017 energy week that went into testing which storage solutions would work best in Singapore’s hot and humid climate.

An EMA spokesman said: “We see energy storage systems as an essential technology to enabling higher levels of solar power adoption in Singapore. We encourage industry to invest in these solutions to optimise their energy use and provide new solutions and business models to our market.”

Leading the push for solar energy, JTC will expand its solar generation capacity by 100 times through its SolarRoof and SolarLand initiatives.

From a total installed capacity of 1 megawatt-peak (MWp) today – enough power for 250 four-room Housing Board flats for a year – the government agency aims to achieve 100MWp by 2030.

JTC’s SolarRoof programme allows power to be pumped into the national grid from solar panels on the rooftops of the agency’s buildings. It lets consumers buy this electricity even if the buildings they occupy are not equipped with solar panels.

SolarLand installs solar panels on vacant land as an interim use.

Mr Chan said: “Overcoming the energy challenge will be our next big audacious goal for the next 50 years.”

He added: “As the energy sector undergoes transformation, all of us – consumers, companies and countries – stand to gain from the deployment of new technologies. With better production, management and consumption of energy, we can ensure a high quality of life and a vibrant economy for our people through greater access to cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy.”


Millions of dollars in initiatives announced for energy sector during Singapore International Energy Week
Jose Hong Straits Times 31 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE - Millions of dollars are being pumped into making the energy sector more efficient, easier to manage when split into multiple grids, and more secure.

These were among a slew of announcements made by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing at the opening of the Singapore International Energy Week on Tuesday (Oct 30) at Marina Bay Sands.

One of the initiatives is a research programme by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) that will prepare the country for a future with more than a single power grid.

The $20-million Exploiting Distributed Generation (EDGE) scheme will give companies or researchers from institutes of higher learning the chance to take part in grant calls and develop technology in the areas of micro-grid design, distributed energy optimisation and management, and differentiated power-quality systems.

The grants will be used to implement projects at both the Pulau Ubin micro-grid and at the future SIT campus when it is completed in 2023.

SIT president Tan Thiam Soon said: "Through EDGE, we aim to strengthen SIT's micro-grid capabilities and create an effective nationwide 'living lab'."

Approaching grid research from another direction is the Smart Grid and Power Electronics Consortium Singapore, one of two consortia set up under another initiative announced on Tuesday.

The initiative involves up to $9 million over three years from EMA and the National Research Foundation to support the Energy Grid 2.0 Programme.

The first consortium will focus on areas such as cyber security for the power grid as well as advanced power electronics.

The second is the Cooling Energy Science and Technology Singapore Consortium, which will tackle the challenge of cooling people in the country's tropical climate while minimising the carbon emissions given off in the process.

A further $10 million has also been earmarked for manpower development, and research and development (R&D) through a partnership between EMA and Sembcorp Industries.

Under the agreement between the two, researchers and companies can develop technologies of strategic interest to the country.

An example is a project that aims to use the large amounts of heat wasted through many industrial processes to produce electricity and chilled water.

EMA chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun said its partnership with Sembcorp will help to catalyse R&D innovations to enhance the resilience of Singapore's energy sector.


Singapore to explore use of energy storage systems with possible cost savings for consumers
Aqil Haziq Mahmud Channel NewsAsia 30 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE: The Energy Market Authority (EMA) is set to experiment with the deployment of energy storage systems (ESS) in Singapore, in a move that could bring cost savings for consumers.

ESS are batteries or other forms of technology deployed on the power grid to store electricity when demand is low and discharge it when demand spikes.

This reduces the need to upgrade infrastructure like substations or transformers to cater to short-term peaks in electricity demand, which in turn could provide savings for consumers.

EMA will test the technology through SP PowerAssets’ use of ESS at a substation in Bedok to smoothen electricity supply during high demand in homes. This is the first time the company is using ESS to do this.

SP PowerAssets is a subsidiary of SP Group.

“This is an alternative approach to upgrading transformers at the substation,” EMA said. “If successful, ESS can allow the electricity grid to be more cost-effective, providing savings to consumers.”

But it is too early to tell if this technology will lead to lower electricity prices. EMA will test the concept before deciding whether to deploy it on a large scale. If deployed, EMA will then determine how much cost savings consumers can get.

Another benefit is the ESS’ ability to increase levels of solar energy in Singapore’s energy mix, allowing the country to meet its climate change commitments. When paired with solar panels, ESS can store solar energy and overcome its intermittent nature.

“We see energy storage solutions as a key technology that will enhance our energy resilience, enable higher levels of solar power adoption and provide significant benefits to Singapore and Singaporeans,” Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing said in opening remarks at the Singapore International Energy Week on Tuesday (Oct 30).

While ESS is a relatively new technology, it has been deployed on a small scale in countries like Australia and the US, where it has shown that it can optimise and regulate the delivery of power.

“We encourage industry to invest in ESS solutions to optimise their energy use and provide new solutions and business models to our market,” EMA said in a release on Tuesday.

ESS ADOPTION AT NASCENT STAGE

To encourage adoption, the authority has released a policy paper on the use of ESS in Singapore and the regulations associated with it. The paper will be continuously updated as new ESS business models emerge, ensuring Singapore’s regulations remain up to date.

“Taking into account industry feedback, we have concluded that the existing regulatory and market framework already allows ESS to participate in our energy, regulation and reserves markets,” EMA said.

But the paper noted that ESS adoption in Singapore remains nascent, pointing out limitations like high costs and safety concerns.

“Locally, the EMA would first need to assess and determine if the use of ESS for grid applications would bring net benefits to consumers, and determine what would be the most cost-effective solution,” the paper said.

“We envisage that ESS will be increasingly adopted in Singapore for multiple applications as costs decline.”

In line with this, EMA has launched a programme to facilitate ESS deployment. Programme partners will work with EMA to pilot the deployment and design business models to operate ESS in Singapore.

One partner, Sembcorp, said it can use ESS with other forms of power generation like solar and conventional gas-fire to create more value for consumers.

"Potential applications could be to provide complete behind-the-meter clean energy solutions for individual electricity consumers," it said in a release.

In its policy paper, EMA reiterated that ESS “could help Singapore to move towards a low-carbon and more flexible energy system”.

“The EMA will continue to monitor developments in other jurisdictions and see how lessons can be applied to Singapore,” it said.

Source: CNA/hz

Singapore rolls out initiatives to help companies reduce carbon emissions, increase energy efficiency
Aqil Haziq Mahmud Channel NewsAsia 30 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE: Singapore has rolled out a series of initiatives to help companies reduce carbon emissions and become more energy efficient, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing announced on Tuesday (Oct 30).

“Our industrial sector consumes a significant amount of energy,” Mr Chan said in his opening remarks at the Singapore International Energy Week.

“Hence, we are rolling out an enhanced set of Industry Energy Efficiency grant schemes to give a stronger push for industrial facilities, including those of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to be more energy efficient.”

The grants come after it was announced in February that a carbon tax on large emitters will kick in next year, with the Government prepared to spend more than S$1 billion in the first five years to support projects that reduce carbon emissions.

During consultation sessions, emitters had voiced concerns that the carbon tax would affect their competitiveness on the global stage, especially as Singapore would be the first country in Southeast Asia to implement the tax.

The grants were launched by the Energy Market Authority (EMA), Economic Development Board (EDB) and National Environment Agency (NEA).

EMA has launched a Genco Energy Efficiency Grant Call to fund up to 50 per cent of energy efficiency projects by power generation companies over the next five years.

“Gencos can engage their preferred original equipment manufacturers or vendors to conduct the energy efficiency projects,” the three agencies said in a joint press release.

“Gencos are also encouraged to tap on the Genco EE Grant Call early to invest in energy-efficient equipment or technologies to improve their competitiveness and maximise the accrued benefits.”

The manufacturing sector will also benefit from improved EDB and NEA grants.

Under EDB’s Resource Efficiency Grant for Energy and NEA’s Energy Efficiency Fund, funding for energy-efficient technologies will be increased from 30 to 50 per cent of qualifying costs, which include manpower, equipment and technology fees.

Companies that achieve higher reductions will get more funding, while SMEs and companies that make early efforts to be energy efficient may also receive higher grants.

A similar EDB scheme supported 32 energy-efficiency projects from January 2012 to September this year, resulting in an annual carbon abatement of about 158.7 kilo tonnes, the press release said.

NEA’s Energy Efficiency Fund, launched in April last year, also supported eight projects involving technologies like LED lights and high-efficiency air-conditioning systems, resulting in an annual carbon abatement of about 205 tonnes.

“In an increasingly carbon-constrained future, improving energy efficiency will do more than just help companies reduce their costs of production,” Mr Chan said.

“More importantly, this can open up new competitive advantages and business opportunities, both locally and internationally. Our companies will also stand to benefit from a smaller base of carbon emissions and hence lower carbon tax liability.”

Source: CNA/hz(cy)