New grid system to manage energy use in Singapore

New grid system to manage energy use in Singapore

Research money will be channelled towards the ways Singapore could be using
energy in the future, by managing the country's gas, solar and thermal
energy under a smarter energy grid system.

This was revealed after the 10th Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council
meeting on Friday (July 21). Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong chaired the
meeting to review the progress of the S$19 billion set aside for research,
innovation and enterprise between 2016 and 2020.

The money is part of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 plan
announced last year, which had identified four areas of focus: Advanced
manufacturing and engineering, health and biomedical sciences, services and
digital economy, and urban solutions and sustainability.

The next-generation grid system proposed, known as Grid 2.0, will change the
way gas, solar and thermal energy sources are converted into electrical
energy, transmitted, stored and used. This system will be more efficient,
sustainable and resilient.

Dr Yeoh Lean Weng, director of urban solutions and sustainability research
at the National Research Foundation, said that Singapore cannot take its
electrical power systems for granted and needs to reduce its carbon
emissions to honour the commitments in international agreements.

Under the Paris climate agreement, Singapore has committed to cut carbon
emissions per dollar of gross domestic product by 36 per cent come 2030 —
down from 2005 levels — and to stablise emissions.

As part of Grid 2.0, researchers will, for instance, look at using "cold
energy" — which comes from converting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its
gaseous form — to cool buildings, industry and vehicles.

The use of such cold energy could save Singapore more than S$180 million a
year.

LNG is stored at minus 161°C and has to be warmed up by seawater and
gasified before it is used in power stations to generate electricity.

Dr Yeoh said that none of this cold energy is used today, and the cold
seawater is discharged into the sea. Instead, there can be a system where
the extreme cold can be used to produce liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen
from air.

Liquid oxygen, for example, can be used to burn natural gas in a special
generator, where less natural gas is needed to produce the same amount of
electricity.

There are also new opportunities in the district cooling systems. District
cooling is the centralised production of chilled water that is piped to
buildings for air-conditioning. Another "phase change material" with a
higher melting point could be used, instead of the melting point of ice at
0°C. This could result in less energy being used to cool buildings here.

Prime Minister Lee said on Friday he was encouraged that companies are
investing more in research, innovation and enterprise activities, and some
have set up corporate laboratories as well.

"The 10th (Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council) has given us
guidance to consolidate our gains, and sharpen our focus on four growth
areas. We still have more to do, but we have made good progress," he added.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/new-grid-system-manage-energy-use-spore

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com