SINGAPORE — The Energy Market Authority (EMA) is looking at the possibility of making it easier for consumers with their own sources of generating energy –- such as solar power –- to be paid for supplying the excess energy they generate to the grid.

These are smaller consumers that consume less than 1MW of electricity per month, and include schools, factories and warehouses.

This will be part of a public consultation on the regulatory framework for intermittent generation sources – which includes solar energy – which was announced today by Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry S Iswaran (Oct 28) at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW).

In his opening remarks at the event, Mr Iswaran said the review is to facilitate greater distribution of renewable energy sources and help them integrate into the current electricity market.

The EMA will also raise the hard cap on the amount of intermittent generation sources that can be supplied to the grid, from 350MWp to 600MWp. The public consultation will conclude in January next year.

Mr Iswaran also announced that the EMA will roll out a Demand Response scheme in 2015, following a consultation last year to include the scheme as part of Singapore’s electricity market. The scheme will allow consumers to monitor prices of energy and reduce their electricity usage when prices are higher, for example. The EMA will release more details of the scheme later at SIEW this week.

Singapore is also looking to launch an electricity futures market some time in the second half of next year, which will allow industry players to trade contracts of electricity products at specified prices. Mr Iswaran said that six generation companies in Singapore have expressed interest in collaborating with the Singapore Exchange to develop the electricity futures market here, following the launch of the consultation paper at last year’s SIEW.