JTC has appointed Univers and PacificLight to develop Singapore’s first district-level smart grid.

It will be in the Punggol Digital District. JTC is a statutory board under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry.

JTC (www.jtc.gov.sg) has appointed Singapore decarbonisation software firm Univers and PacificLight Power, a Singapore-based power generator and retailer, to design, build and operate the republic’s first-ever district-level smart grid.

Located at Punggol Digital District (PDD), it will further Singapore’s green energy transition and support the district’s ambitions to achieve net-zero before 2045. The smart grid is being jointly developed by JTC, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Public Sector Science & Technology Policy & Plans Office (S&TPPO).

Univers (univers.com) and PacificLight (www.pacificlight.com.sg) will design, build and operate a smart grid integrating a battery energy storage system (BESS) with solar photovoltaic panels to optimise energy efficiency across the district through real-time data management and renewable energy generation.

This installation forms part of the district’s solar panels, which will produce over 3000MW-hours of clean energy annually. Integrating solar energy and the BESS with the smart grid enables peak shaving, a strategy for reducing the energy consumed during peak demand on the electrical grid, and ensures reliable and continuous energy supply to the district. This smart grid installation will also let consumers participate in demand response and allow them to shift their electricity usage during peak periods in response to time-based rates.

The digitally enabled smart grid will be the first of its kind for business parks in Singapore and is designed to optimise energy efficiency across the district. The project, which is in the design phase, is expected to be completed in 2026. Together with other energy saving features and strategies, PDD is expected to achieve an estimated improvement in district-level energy efficiency of over 50%.

Managed centrally by Univers’ Energy & Environment Operating System (EnOSTM) and powered by artificial intelligence and IoT (AIoT), the system should be secure and scalable via 4G connectivity to enable seamless integration of the smart grid with JTC’s estate operating platform – the Open Digital Platform – to exchange raw data and business insights.

Besides enabling real-time monitoring and tracking of energy use via smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure, through integration with the Open Digital Platform, the system will also allow communication and interaction with other systems in the district, such as EV chargers, district cooling systems and building management systems. This should help businesses in PDD optimise energy use and reduce carbon emissions through renewable energy adoption and load shifting. Aspirations to push the boundaries for further energy savings of up to 20% may also be achieved through AI and machine learning.

The smart grid will be able to enrol non-traditional energy assets such as backup generators and electric vehicles, allowing PDD consumers to participate in the Singapore national electricity market through the onboarding of their electric vehicles or in-house energy storage systems, and to interact with it for demand response. Such monitoring and potentially control of in-district energy assets can, with the support from the relevant authorities and upon successful trials, be extended to interconnect and interact with neighbouring developments, for a district-wide demonstration.

The collaboration between JTC, EMA and S&TPPO will be a living lab where companies can test their systems in an operational business park setting. The initiative aligns with Singapore’s vision to harness digital technology for enhanced urban living and environmental sustainability.

Some of these testbeds include:

• Trial of underground deployment of the battery energy storage system with appropriate fire safety measures in a real-world urban environment to understand safety risk;
• Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) demonstration;
• Demonstrating co-existence of solar photovoltaic (PV) or building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) on rooftop trellis together with commercial urban farming on tower rooftops; and
• Developing the smart grid digital platform as an enabling infrastructure for virtual power plants and exploring participation in EMA’s virtual power plant regulatory sandbox.

“PDD is a living lab where companies can test their systems in an operational business park setting,” said Nelson Liew, director at JTC. “The smart grid not only generates, transmits and stores energy efficiently, it also serves as a platform for testing innovations to advance our sustainability goals.”

Low Xin Wei, assistant chief executive at EMA, added: “Distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar panels, district cooling and EV chargers have the potential to play a greater and broader range of roles in our energy system, especially as our renewable energy penetration increases. Coordinating these resources and their underlying operations is challenging but presents immense opportunities. PDD, with its mix of commercial and educational facilities, is a microcosm of how such smart grid management capabilities can eventually be scaled island-wide.”