Singapore has deployed its first utility-scale energy storage system at a substation in Woodlands, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on Thursday, Channelnewsasia.com reports.
Its capacity is equivalent to powering more than 200 four-room HDB households for a day, said the authority.
“Solar is the most viable renewable energy source for Singapore,” said EMA. However, solar energy faces intermittency challenges due to cloud cover and rain in Singapore’s tropical climate.
These challenges can be mitigated with the energy storage system, which enables the storage of solar energy for later use.
“The fast response nature of ESS will also help to maintain a reliable source of power supply when solar installations are affected by weather changes.
“These advantages are key enablers for Singapore to maximise solar as one of the four switches in Singapore’s Energy Story,” said EMA.
It will also provide insights into the performance of energy storage systems in Singapore’s hot and humid environment, and aid in establishing technical guidelines, the authority said.
“This is critical in supporting Singapore’s target of at least 2 gigawatt-peak of solar deployment by 2030,” EMA Chief Executive Ngiam Shih Chun said.
“The deployment of ESS, designed for local conditions, will enable us to incorporate a greater amount of renewables and other sustainable energy solutions into our electricity grid,” SP Group CEO Stanley Huang said.
The energy storage system was jointly funded by EMA and SP Group, and implemented by a consortium comprising local solar energy firm Sunseap Energy Ventures, Nanyang Technological University and Finnish energy solutions provider Wartsila.
On Thursday, EMA also announced the deployment of distributed energy storage systems at electrical switchrooms for five HDB blocks in Punggol.
The project seeks to address solar intermittency for large-scale solar installations by using HDB blocks as test sites.
“Moving forward, insights gained from this project will demonstrate how it can potentially be applied for future deployments in Singapore,” EMA said.
