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Five Projects Awarded $10 Million for the Inaugural Smart Energy Challenge

17 Oct 2010

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) awarded five Singapore-based consortia a total of up to $10 million in funding as part of the first Smart Energy Challenge (SEC). Launched last November, the SEC seeks to support the development of new technologies and solutions which will strengthen Singapore’s energy competitiveness, efficiency and security. This inaugural SEC focused on three areas - Power Generation, Energy for Transport and Energy Efficiency for Industry. 

The five projects receiving funding are:

ProjectFocus AreaFund Recipient/Partners
A 20 MW Distributed Virtual Power Plant (Demand Response System) Power Generation CPower vTrium (CPvT) Pte Ltd
Development of a high-rate anaerobic process and reactor that is suitable for the “waste-to-energy” industry Power Generation Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with IUT Global Pte Ltd
Development of an Intelligent High-Performance Battery System for Electric Vehicles Energy for Transport National University of Singapore (NUS) with ST Kinetics
Cyber Security and Secure Intelligent Electronics Devices for EV Ecosystem in the Smart Grid Energy for Transport Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR with SP PowerGrid & AddValue Technologies
A Unity Power Factor Adjustable Speed Drive For Industry Energy Efficiency Energy Efficiency for Industry Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

(Further details of the five projects and their principal investigators are in the attachment).

On the five projects, Mr Lawrence Wong, Chief Executive of EMA, said, "The SEC will harness the development capabilities of our tertiary institutions and industry players to bridge the commercialisation gap and bring new inventions to market. We hope to see more innovative Singapore-based energy solutions coming out as a result of this initiative, not only to address Singapore’s energy needs but also to capture regional and global opportunities.”

Dr Zhou Jianying from Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR), one of the fund recipients, said, “Our project aims to develop a security architecture blueprint for strengthening the power grid infrastructure. We look forward to working with SP PowerGrid who is well-known for its world-class grid network performance. Besides the blueprint, the SEC award will also enable us to develop tamper resistant devices that can be connected safely to the grid.” 

Prof. Ali Masood from NTU, another SEC winner, said, “Today, motors used to power hoist/cranes, air conditioners and lifts are highly energy inefficient. The grant will help us develop a more efficient adjustable speed drive that can be used in almost 85 per cent of all industrial motors and reduce energy wastage in the order of 5 per cent to 20 per cent.”

The inaugural SEC attracted 88 proposals from tertiary institutions, research entities and companies. All proposals were reviewed by an inter-agency technical expert evaluation panel and an advisory committee. Prof. Barry Halliwell, Deputy President (Research and Technology), NUS and a member of EMA’s advisory committee said, “We received many innovative and highly-competitive proposals submitted to the SEC. After putting them through a rigorous evaluation process, we are confident of the technical and commercial feasibility of these selected proposals.”

Funding under the Smart Energy Challenge is made available from EMA’s $25 million Energy Research Development Fund. This fund provides financial support for the implementation of new and innovative energy solutions which can help to:

    1. Diversify Singapore's energy sources and improve our energy security;
    2. Achieve Singapore's energy intensity reduction targets; and
    3. Develop Singapore's energy industry.

     

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