59-05-032 Proceeding

39 Proceedings of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Congress So, Singapore has a strong EE market driven by policy. In 2011, the Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) was set up as an informal platform for knowledge and information sharing. In 2013, the National Environment Agency introduced the Energy Conservation Act (ECA), which created great market opportunities for energy audit and EE implementation. Two major grants introducedwere Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance Scheme (EASe) andGrant for Energy Efficient Technologies (GREET), which helps to reduce costs (to the implementer) for energy appraisal and energy efficient equipment and technology, respectively. It is noteworthy that prior to 2013, the electricitymarket in Singapore was liberalised for industrial users providing demand-side flexibility and improved overall grid reliability. However, the ECA does not set EE standards nor consumption caps, therefore the level of implementation still lies with market with considerations and rebound effects may erode EE efforts. Asmentioned above, renewable energy has a very small presence in Singapore, with solar PV constituting around 0.3%of total electricity generation capacity (EMA, 2014), with the theoretical possible maximum being 6% if energy demand grow proportionally with GDP growth (for grid stability and reliability.) Efforts on renewable energy technology development thus focus mainly on research&development activities on solar PV.The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) was set up in the National University of Singapore (NUS) to cover R&D areas from solar cell material, PV module, to solar energy systems (Figure 5). In addition, Singapore attracted leadingDanishwind turbinemanufacturer, Vestas, andNorwegianPVcompanyRenewable Energy Corporate (REC) to set up large research and manufacture facility respectively (Gross, 2010). The wind developments are primarily to develop an export economy, as wind power is not expected to be a major contributor (given that Singapore has low velocity winds). Furthermore, as a regional technology and finance hub, Singapore is an ideal platform for knowledge and information sharing between technology firms and prospective buyers from the rest of ASEAN countries. Under the auspices of Asia Development Bank (ADB), IPEx Cleantech Asia was set up in 2014 to serve as an onlinemarketplace to assist technology transfer to developing Asian countries (Shah, 2014). Figure 7 SERIS Research Spectrum