Singapore’s national power grid operator SP Group (SP) has allocated SGD 30 million (USD 22 million) for research and education initiatives in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The collaboration will see the establishment of the SP Group-NTU Joint Laboratory and two endowment funds to support next-generation experts in Singapore’s energy sector.
Located on the NTU Smart Campus and planned to be completed in 2021, the new joint laboratory built with an investment of SGD 20 million (USD 15 million) from SP, will house 60 researchers, 85 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and serve as a training platform for SP’s engineers. The SP Group-NTU Joint Laboratory will conduct studies on equipment components and materials to gauge the equipment’s degradation and lifespan. The laboratory’s research will focus on four key areas:
- Failure analysis and detection of equipment degradation, at the component level;
- Enhancing condition monitoring techniques to detect anomalies and pre-empt equipment fault;
- Assessment and modelling of key equipment to optimize asset performance and useful life; and
- Enhancing system planning to optimize renewal, maintenance and operation of the grid, taking into consideration criticality, asset performance and cost-benefit.
Researchers from SP Group and NTU will design and develop a unique scalable system – one of the first in the world – that can detect and pre-empt equipment fault by sensing electrical and sound anomalies within the power distribution substations. Moreover, the laboratory aims to develop new intellectual property and commercially viable innovations which will benefit the wider energy industry. New research topics will be identified which will support SP’s vision to develop solutions for the Energy Grid of the future.
SP is also contributing SGD 10 million (USD 7 million) to NTU to set up two endowment funds at the university. The SP Group Professorship Fund will support two outstanding faculty members in their research and scholarship. The SP Group Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund will boost early-career scientists’ and engineers’ research in energy and power systems. The recipients from both endowment funds will contribute to the research being done at the Lab.
(Sources: NTU, The Straits Times)
