National Water Agency PUB has announced a partnership with SP Group (SP) to participate in the Energy Market Authority (EMA)’s Demand Response (DR) and Interruptible Load (IL) programmes, making it the first government agency to do so. 

Forming part of EMA’s regulatory sandbox, the DR and IL programmes enable organisations to optimise their energy consumption. As a participant, PUB commits to voluntarily reduce its energy use or temporarily shift electricity usage during periods of peak usage, or when supply from renewable energy sources is intermittent. This will help balance electricity demand and supply on the national power grid at critical times, while facilitating the integration of more renewables. 

“As Singapore’s national water agency, sustainability has been central to our mission,” asserted PUB’s Chief Executive, Mr Goh Si Hou. “PUB is actively leveraging technological innovation and process redesign to raise the energy efficiency of our operations. We are improving treatment processes to reduce energy intake and enhance energy recovery, while drawing on renewable energy by deploying floating solar farms on our reservoirs. This is especially important, as we will increasingly tap on energy-intensive sources like NEWater [high-grade recycled water produced from treated used water] and desalination to meet future growth in water demand.

“Coming onboard the Demand Response and Interruptible Load programmes is thus in line with our sustainability efforts,” he continued. “It will provide PUB with greater flexibility in managing energy demand, and allow us to achieve cost savings. At the same time, our participation will support the national effort for energy resilience, and bring system-level benefits to all users.”

PUB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SP on 5 April 2023. Under the MoU, SP will act as the DR aggregator and onboard PUB’s identified electricity load operations onto its system and participate in both the DR/IL programmes on its behalf. An electricity load curtailment is required to balance the national grid when energy demand is at its peak or when electricity supply dips. When that happens, SP will combine loads from its Marina Bay district cooling ice thermal energy storage systems with that of its partners, and make them available for demand response reduction or interruption, thus acting as an intermediary for partners including PUB. SP will also provide PUB with regular market reports, share technical knowhow, and work with PUB in meeting load curtailment targets.

PUB has already identified the Marina Raw Water Pumping Station, located at Kallang Basin, to be the initial contributing facility for both programmes. The pumping station is used to transfer raw water from Marina Reservoir to Upper Peirce Reservoir and has flexibility to adjust non-time critical operations when required to manage or reduce electricity usage.

Mr Stanley Huang, CEO, SP Group, said that his business was well positioned to be Singapore’s biggest DR aggregator, building on its experience in electricity load curtailment through its district cooling operations, and now bringing onboard industry partners like PUB. “This unlocks the potential of DR in electricity-intensive facilities here, paving the way for more collaborations that will strengthen the resilience of the nation’s grid through sustainable energy initiatives.”

Mr Ngiam Shih Chun, Chief Executive of EMA, said his organisation welcomed the PUB-SP Group collaboration and their participation in EMA’s Demand Response and Interruptible Load programmes. “As we transform our energy sector to be more sustainable, it is also important that consumers are empowered to optimise and reduce their electricity consumption, in exchange for a share of the system-wide benefits. We encourage more consumers to come onboard the programmes and enjoy these benefits.”

EMA and SP had earlier announced a pilot ice thermal Energy Storage System (ESS) at the George Street substation which will be operational in 2026. The total load curtailment capacity from PUB and George Street substation operations, together with SP’s ice thermal ESS that supports the world’s largest underground district cooling operations at Marina Bay, is equivalent to the daily energy consumption of 10,000 four-room HDB flats.

SP has been an active participant in the IL and DR programmes since 2016, with the capability to facilitate electricity load curtailment for partners like PUB when required.