SINGAPORE – August 16, 2016 – The most innovative city in Asia is planning to apply revolutionary technologies to its electrical grid. GE (NYSE: GE) is partnering Singapore Power (SP) to supply an innovative digital substation as part of SP Centre of Excellence (CoE)’s SPEAR (Singapore Power Advanced Research & Development) program. The SPEAR program aims to drive innovation and commercialization of next-generation energy network technologies. The program was set up to specifically develop and pilot technologies that will build up the resilience and reliability of Singapore’s energy network infrastructure.
Singapore announced plans raise the utilization of solar power, predominantly solar photovoltaic (PV) to 350 Megawatt peak (MWp) by 2020, representing 5 percent of overall projected peak electricity demand. Today the installed capacity is just above 71 MWp. Innovating the grid is a key element to prepare a future grid that is able to integrate additional renewable energy sources.
“SP CoE is committed to driving research and innovation that translates into a future-ready national grid,” said Mr. Brandon Chia Seng Boon, Head, Centre of Excellence at Singapore Power. “Innovation is at the heart of Singapore’s transition to a smarter electrical network. We look forward to partnering GE in digitising our substations, enabling us to anticipate issues, improve system performance and reliability, and prepare for the integration of renewable energy sources.”
GE will provide an end-to-end digital substation based on its digital control system DS Agile. The entire digital infrastructure, protection, communication, Human Machine Interfaces and automation equipment are all IEC 618501 compliant, allowing for multi-vendor interoperability. Installed in a 66kV Gas Insulated Substation (GIS), GE’s DS Agile will provide SP with improved monitoring, protection and control for a total of 8 switchgear bays. The system transmits digital communications using optical fibre in place of copper wiring, maximizing the safety of personnel. It is a compact solution, with a reduced equipment size of up to 10%, further optimizing the system’s footprint. New advanced substation software applications, such as wide area monitoring and active control, self-testing will also improve the reliability and the flexibility of the substation and grid to prepare for the integration of renewable energy.
“Thanks to Singapore Power’s foresight, Singapore is stepping ahead of the game to embrace new technologies in the energy sector. It is also the perfect place in this region, to showcase these technologies,” said Jack Wen, president for the Asia Region, GE’s Grid Solutions business, which is a part of GE Energy Connections. “Making the grids smarter is important for Singapore to continue to forge ahead a sustainable city. Adapting today’s grid to connect more renewable energy sources is a key element for the Singapore of tomorrow.”
1 The IEC 61850 is a unifying communication standard, one of the core standards relevant to Smart Grid that is issued by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), a leading global organization that publishes consensus-based International Standards
