By RONNIE LIM

 

SINGAPORE is installing another key pillar in its bid to be a smart energy economy, that is, one that is resilient, sustainable and innovative in energy use.

 

The Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC), that will cost an initial $38 million and is due to start up in the second half of 2011, will support R&D on new energy concepts with industry partners. It will help support prototype, experimental test-bed projects like the micro-grid using renewables like sun, wind and waste energy on Pulau Ubin, as well as first-adoption, 'live' tests including those on electric vehicles and smart electricity meters here.

The plan is that the whole-of-government approach to develop technology for a 'smart' grid here - which can for instance, allow owners of electric cars or buildings with solar panels to sell electricity back to the power grid - can also be scaled up and commercialised for global markets in future.

The EPGC - being built next to, and leveraging on resources at the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) on Jurong Island - 'represents a next milestone in our blossoming energy research, development and demonstration landscape', Ravi Menon, permanent secretary for the Trade and Industry Ministry said at its groundbreaking yesterday.

As the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's dedicated centre for energy research, EPGC will undertake R&D for intelligent and decentralised power distribution, interconnection and use. It will complement other agencies in attracting new companies to invest here in areas related to smart grids and distributed generation, he added.

Industry partnerships - like those signed with SP PowerGrid and CEI Contract Manufacturing (covering mobile solar technology) - will be a key focus of EPGC. Two others, Vestas (already committed to a $500 million wind research centre here) and Rolls Royce (aerospace and ships) also signed letters of intent.

'EPGC's focus on R&D of new technologies and commercialisation will help stimulate new investments through project and joint collaboration activities. Industry partners and research institutions will be able to use this facility to develop and verify new technologies in intelligent grids, integration of renewable energy resources and vehicle to grid systems,' Mr Menon added.

The EPGC will, for example, tackle the issue of intermittency of solar power here, which could pose challenges to the stability and reliability of the power grid, he said.

At an earlier press briefing, Professor Ashwin Khambadkone, EPGC's programme director, said that the experimental centre with 1-megawatt capacity will be the largest of its kind worldwide when it starts up. It will employ 20-25 staff, with 15 of them either PhDs or researchers.

EPGC's big 1-MW grid - compared with other experimental centres including in the US, Europe and Japan with smaller generating capacities - 'gives it flexibility, as we can then bring in more assets, emulating different energy sources (like wind turbines or electric vehicle charging) to evaluate', said Professor Low Teck Seng, A*Star's deputy managing director (research).

Building on the initial four industry partners, EPGC can accommodate over 10 partners, although this will ultimately depend on how much grid time is demanded by each partners' project, given that any power grid can only operate 24 hours a day, he added.

As to where Singapore's EPGC project stood vis-a-vis other similar experimental labs overseas, ICES' executive director, Keith Carpenter said that 'while we recognise that there are already players in the field, there are not that many and they are not that far ahead, and we believe we can catch up.'