Singapore – Diamond Energy has opened its next generation Demand Response Centre, the first dedicated facility of its kind actively serving electricity consumers in the National Electricity Market of Singapore.

Demand Response globally is already playing a pivotal role in conserving energy use, and maintaining grid stability as the resource mix trends towards greater distributed renewable generation sources. Singapore is taking deliberate steps to ride this trend and Diamond Energy is honoured to be the pioneering national partner in this field.

The reserve market is essential as it is where stand-by capacity is procured. This is to ensure adequate electricity supply in the event of a power plant failure or other disturbance event in the power system.

Under the Energy Market Authority’s leadership, Singapore was an early adopter of Demand Response and introduced Interruptible Load in the reserve market of the National Electricity Market of Singapore in 2004. “With companies such as Diamond Energy offering innovative demand management, including demand response services, consumers will be able to further reduce their electricity cost while improving system efficiency,” commented Mr Chee Hong Tat, Chief Executive of the Energy Market Authority who officiated the opening.

Interruptible Load, or IL as it is often referred, is a form of Demand Response that is the equivalent of stand-by generation capacity in the form of curtailable electricity demand which can be turned off on a temporary basis in exchange for payments.

There are currently 15 registered loads in NEMS that provide IL, all of which are managed by Diamond Energy from its Demand Response Centre. These resources are capable of providing 21 MW of primary response (8 seconds), 21 MW of secondary response (30 seconds), and 23 MW of contingency response (10 minutes).1

Providing IL allows electricity customers with the means to generate additional revenue, lower their expenditure on electricity, and improve their energy efficiency. During 2013 there were 20 contingency activation events with an average duration of 52 minutes. IL providers are paid based on their availability whether an activation event is called or not. Minimal affected hours makes participation suitable for electricity consumers that are able to manage the curtailment of nonessential electricity loads for short periods of time.

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, Chairman of Diamond Energy stated: “the official opening of our Demand Response Centre is an important step towards achieving our mission of changing the way electricity is consumed in Singapore.”

1Source: Energy Market Company Pte Ltd, however, note that the actual quantity registered for contingency is 23.2 MW which has been rounded down to 23 MW.