Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good afternoon

Introduction

1. I am pleased to welcome you and to welcome our distinguished speakers to the inaugural Energy Innovation event. This is a new platform introduced as part of EMA's annual Energy Forum for industry and academia to exchange ideas on innovations, to explore opportunities for collaboration, and to form partnerships to respond to our thematic grant calls. This year we have chosen to focus our thematic grant calls on the two areas of Smart Grid and Gas.

Innovation is Important to Meet Singapore’s Energy Needs

2. The energy landscape is evolving. Strong growth in energy demand, an increase in penetration of intermittent renewable generation sources, and the evolving risk of cyber-attacks on the grid are just some of the issues that we grapple with today.
3. In Singapore, our energy challenge is equally multi-faceted. We need energy security; delivered at a competitive price to consumers; and we need to do it in an environmentally sustainable manner. In this respect, new technologies and continued innovation are critical in meeting Singapore's energy challenges and goals. The government must work hand-in-hand with the private sector and with the research community to develop breakthrough technologies, and to translate such innovative solutions to the market.
4. There are 3 imperatives for Singapore to succeed in this new era.

Imperative #1: EMA will focus our efforts to catalyse research and innovations that addresses industry relevant challenges

5. Firstly, as the sector regulator and developer for the power and gas sectors, EMA’s funding efforts have been, and will be, targeted. We have systematically catalysed applied research to address industry-relevant challenges in areas from power generation, to smart grids and to gas.
6. We have launched competitive grant calls to support applied R&D from industry players, research institutions, and institutions of higher learning. We started with the Smart Energy Challenge in 2010 which yielded positive results in areas of waste-to-energy, cyber-security for the power sector and demand response. Insights gleaned from the EMA-funded demand response project for example were instrumental in helping to shape the demand response program which we have subsequently rolled out.
7. Several of our distinguished speakers later, Mr Peter Leong, Dr Zhou Jianying, and Mr Paul Richards would be sharing with you very shortly R&D possibilities to enhance our grid resilience and to strengthen our LNG terminal operations. You will find these views very relevant when my colleague, Mr Bernard Chew elaborates later on the new Smart Grid and Gas Grant Calls that we have launched.

Imperative #2: EMA aims to nurture capabilities in growing areas that are less developed within the energy sector

8. Secondly, to prepare for the future, EMA also recognises the need to develop capabilities in areas that are less developed within the energy sector. An important area that we are trying to understand better is how to manage the intermittency of solar energy – where rapid fluctuations can bring stresses to the grid. In this regard, we embarked on the Pulau Ubin Micro-grid Test-bed to assess the impact of intermittent energy on the reliability of electricity supply, and to showcase how such micro-grid solutions could be commercially-viable for off-grid communities in the region. Mr. Markson Tang, who is the appointed Micro-grid Operator, will be sharing with you more about this project and about the region’s economic potential.
9. Building on the first phase of the Micro-grid, EMA is exploring how companies and research organisations can pilot energy-related technologies, such as energy storage, on the Micro-grid. One of the objectives is to better understand how intermittency can be managed. More details on Ubin Phase 2 will be announced in the second half of this year.

Imperative #3: We must be prepared to take risks and learn from each other what works, and what does not

10. Thirdly, while some of the projects that we will embark on will succeed, we do recognise that some would unfortunately fail. The learning, and the potential for greater economic opportunities, increased energy security and environmental sustainability, are benefits that make the overall investment worthwhile. Each setback comes with the opportunity to iterate, adapt and improve.
11. It is with this learning spirit that we have decided to invite some of the past grant recipients to also share their experience at today’s event. We believe this will benefit the broader research and industry communities.
12. EMA will continue to work towards fostering stronger collaborations between academia and industry to drive innovation, co-share risks, promote knowledge exchange, and to translate research ideas to market solutions.

Conclusion

13. Before I end off, I would like to also announce that more than $11 million has been awarded to 6 proposals as part of the 2013 Power Generation Grant Call. The 6 winning teams come from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, SP PowerGrid and Yokogawa Engineering Asia. In case you’ve been counting, NTU had three winning projects. Many of the projects involved close participation from the industry. Some of the industry partners of the winning teams from the universities include Tuas Power Generation and YTL PowerSeraya. Projects awarded will address industry-relevant challenges in areas such as mitigating haze-related risks, generation efficiency enhancements and expert decision support systems.
14. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit the exhibition area, where we have showcased some of the completed and ongoing projects funded under our grant calls. I would also like to encourage you to leverage on today’s event to network, make connections with other players in the ecosystem, and to respond to our two thematic grant calls which will close on 18 July 2014.
15. Thank you.