SIEW 2009: Plug-In Singapore 2009

Plug-In Singapore 2009 was held recently as part of the Singapore International Energy Week 2009. The conference and expo is organised by the Cleantech Agency and brings together the market players to discuss key electric vehicle issues.

Opening Speech

During the conference, David Tan, Deputy Chief Executive, Energy Market Authority, gave a speech on the Electrification of Singapore’s Land Transport. He highlighted the current global interest in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and that the use of EVs are expected to pick up from 2015 onwards and become fully commercially viable for the mass market after 2020. Even in an alternative energy disadvantaged country like Singapore, we can reduce up to 4% of our land transport sector’s carbon emissions by 2020 with just a 2% EV penetration rate.

To prepare for such a future, Singapore has embarked on a S$20 million EV test-bedding programme, launched in May to provide an open platform for all auto manufacturers and technology companies to examine the infrastructure requirements of an EV system, to test the performance of EVs under local road conditions and in the tropical environment, and to identify related industry and R&D opportunities.

This test-bed will start next year and run for three years, driven by a multi-agency Taskforce, co-chaired by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA). As part of the deployment plan for the EV test-bed project, the EV Taskforce has been working with Renault-Nissan, Mitsubishi and other auto manufacturers to secure a supply of EVs for Singapore.

Mitsubishi plans to roll out its i-MiEV model of electric cars next year. So the Taskforce is expecting 50 i-MiEVs to arrive from September 2010, which would cost about S$89,000 – S$99,000 each. Renault-Nissan’s EVs will only be available for commercial sale in 2011. The Taskforce is now looking for interested companies to participate in the test-bed and be an early adopter of EVs in Singapore, under the Transport Technology Innovation and Development Scheme (TIDES), jointly administered by LTA and EDB.

Participants will be required to collate data on the performance of the EV such as driving range between charging, ease of charging, annual mileage and total costs of operation. The data collected will be instrumental in evaluating the costs and benefits and overall feasibility of the future adoption of EVs in
Singapore.

The EV Taskforce will also be rolling out a small network of about 50 EV charging stations. A competitive tender will be launched next year to select an EV infrastructure service provider. The EV charging stations will have to be compatible with the EVs produced by the major auto-manufacturers, and the deployment of the stations will be timed to coincide with the actual take-up of EVs under the test-bed.

In addition, EMA, SPRING Singapore and industry partners will be working on a Technical Reference for the public EV charging systems to set minimum standards for the development of EV charging systems and the safe charging of EVs.

Expo

Here are some photos of the exhibitors’ electric vehicles:

SIEW 2009: Smart Grids 2009

The Smart Grids 2009 conference was held last week as part of the Singapore International Energy Week, and covered the latest in smart grid development, and the strategies and steps towards attaining a more energy efficient and sustainable grid.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Chief Executive of the Energy Market Authority (EMA), gave the opening address. He said that although Singapore’s electricity grid is one of the most reliable in the world, with an average interruption time of less than 1 minute per customer in a year, there is still scope for improvement and to benefit from investing in a smarter grid.

A smart grid enables consumers to make better decisions about energy usage. For example, EMA recently concluded trials in two housing estates, Marine Parade and West Coast, to evaluate smart meters and time-differentiated electricity tariffs. Households were provided with real time information on their electricity usage, which resulted in a 2% reduction in electricity consumption.

In addition, households shifted about 10% of their electrical load from peak periods to off-peak periods, thus enjoying savings in their electricity bills. This shift in electricity demand away from peak periods would result in power companies not needing to build extra power plants to cope with such high demand, and could also reduce their spare generation capacity and bring down their overhead costs.

A smart grid makes it easier to facilitate the integration of intermittent and distributed sources of clean power, including co-generation plants and solar PVs, and ensure continued reliability in our electricity supply.

A smart grid also facilitates the electrification of transport, with increasing demand for electricity charging by both plug-in hybrids and full-battery electric vehicles. For example, if 10% of the vehicles in Singapore are electric, an additional 1.3 terra watt hours of electricity per year will be required, about 6 times the energy needs of the housing estate in Ang Mo Kio. Electric vehicles also have the potential to serve as energy storage systems and feed power back into the grid during peak periods.

EMA has launched a pilot project for an “Intelligent Energy System” (IES) to test a range of smart grid technologies and enhance the capabilities of Singapore’s power grid. EMA is calling a tender to select industry partners to work together with Singapore Power to implement the project. The IES pilot project will be implemented on multiple sites, mainly at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the CleanTech Park at Jalan Bahar, and selected residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

The IES pilot project seeks to develop and test the following components of a smart grid:

Image source for Intelligent Energy System: EMA press release

SIEW 2009: Singapore Energy Lecture by Dr Daniel Yergin

The Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) 2009 opens today at the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, with the delivery of the Singapore Energy Lecture by Dr Daniel Yergin, an international energy expert; Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power; and Chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), an energy research consultancy.

The annual SIEW is a leading energy conference that provides a platform for policymakers, business leaders and academics to exchange ideas, strategies and best practices that will help shape global and industry energy agendas. Jointly organized by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Energy Studies Institute (ESI), SIEW features a comprehensive schedule of clean energy-focused conferences, exhibitions and networking sessions from a diverse cross-section of energy industry leaders.

SIEW 2009 builds on the theme, “Clean Energy: Sustainable Solutions for Urban Cities” to address pertinent energy issues affecting the world today. More than 1,800 companies and over 5,000 participants have registered for the various events during the week. Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also shared his views on the need to balance global energy needs and climate change in a video message to participants at the SIEW 2009.

In Dr Yergin’s lecture this morning, he predicted that:

If the 20th century was the Century of Oil, the 21st century will be the Century of Energy Innovation. This intense push for innovation is driven by two powerful forces – the quest for clean energy and the need to provide energy for economic growth.

This reality is nowhere more vivid than in Asia, the center of economic growth. As Asia becomes an increasingly integrated economy, meeting these needs is not just a national issue, but a regional issue. It is a foundation for regional economic growth in this increasingly-interconnected region. And it is an urgent issue.

Dr Yergin shared his views on peak oil and said that the world is not running out of oil as the capacity is growing and people tend to underestimate the impact of technology. He highlighted four big changes:

1. Oil is now a financial instrument, which means greater volatility
2. The globalization of oil demand, where demand growth will come from emerging markets
3. Climate change and growing pressures
4. Technological innovation and the application of technology to energy

Dr Yergin said that the economic recovery is still in its “early days” and it is very important to facilitate global trade, which will stimulate economic growth. Climate change initiatives coming out of the Copenhagen conference next month and thereafter should reflect a “spirit of cooperation” and avoid becoming confrontational and disruptive to trade, which could have very serious unintended economic and political consequences. He emphasized that Copenhagen is not a treaty but a process.

Dr Yergin shared that Asia is in the lead for battery technology and electric vehicles, and that 60% of nuclear construction is in Asia. Natural gas is also going to become a more important part of the energy mix both in Asia and in the world because of its abundance and its attractive attributes as a fuel. Dr Yergin said that:

In the next few years, Asia will see substantial growth in use of natural gas in the form of LNG – liquefied natural gas. The world’s capacity to produce LNG will grow by 50 percent in the period 2008 to 2012.

Dr Yergin concluded that the real growth story in energy is energy efficiency. It is the biggest and easiest way for mitigating climate change. He also noted that Singapore’s role as the “energy crossroad” – both intellectually and in terms of physical supply – goes back to 1892, when the first shipment of oil was unloaded in Singapore. He could see Singapore leading in energy efficiency and smart grids in the future.