Design and implementation of stand-alone smart grid employing renewable energy resources on Pulau Ubin Island of Singapore

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation of an intelligent micro-grid with high percentage of clean and renewable energy resources on Pulau Ubin Island to meet existing and future electricity demand. Pulau Ubin is one of the rare enclaves in highly urbanized Singapore to maintain its rustic charm of "village" life, which is representative of Singapore in her early days of development. The system design has considered all possible energy sources, energy conversion efficiency, power demand, as well as environmental and economic concerns. Photovoltaic (PV), bio-diesel powered doubly fed induction generators are utilized to generate electricity. Energy storage system has been properly sized to maximize the use of renewable energy and to prolong the battery life. Smart-grid technologies, including smart meters, micro grid controller, and remote monitoring system with SCADA functions have been employed to optimize the energy generation, monitor energy consumption, manage instantaneous power flow, maintain electricity quality, and generate fault alerts. This project also serves as a platform for the test-bedding of clean and renewable energy generation and storage as well as advanced grid control technologies under an intelligent Micro-grid infrastructure. These smart grid features have the great potential to be applied to grid connected micro grids. Upon the successful implementation of this system, it can serve as a model of sustainable development for many areas in Asia, of which roughly 40% of its population have little or no access to electricity. © 2012 IEEE.