Rolls Royce, Vestas, SP PowerGrid and CEI Contract Manufacturing have entered into strategic partnerships with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to develop smart grid and distributed energy solutions in Singapore.

Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR, says: “Smart grid R&D is critical to transforming Singapore into a smart energy economy and EPGC is an important enabling infrastructure that will bring us a step closer to realising an intelligent national energy grid. With this infrastructure in place, Singapore will be well-positioned to take R&D in energy solutions to the next level.”

He adds: “Innovation and development of energy technologies are vital to the growth of the global smart grid industry, which is expected to be worth US$187 billion by 2015. As Singapore moves towards its goal of becoming Asia’s Innovation Capital, the EPGC will provide an innovative research platform for public-private partnerships in the emerging area of energy technologies.”

The EPGC

When completed in 2011, the EPGC research facility could be the first experimental smart grid research facility of its kind in South-east Asia.

It will be built by a consortium led by Meiden Singapore.

Associate Professor Ashwin Khambadkone, Programme Director of EPGC, says: “Our activities will be positioned upstream, towards the research and development of new technologies with a view to commercialisation in the future. …the centre is able to accommodate a wide range of R&D activities in areas such as intelligent grids, integration of renewable power generation and vehicle to grid systems, and the development of new generation energy management systems.”