Singapore energy startups hope homegrown green solutions will lead to less carbon emissions

SINGAPORE — As the number of people recognising the urgency of the climate crisis grows, so too does the clamour for green energy solutions — a cry which did not go unnoticed by the organisers of this year’s Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW).

So much so that one of the themes that was up for discussion during the four-day event, which concluded on Friday (Nov 1), was how to manage the chief antagonist in the fight against global warming: Carbon emissions.

The 12th edition of the annual conference not only saw green energy announcements being made, such as Singapore’s push for more solar power by 2030, but it also provided a platform for individuals to share their green solutions.

Among these individuals were Mr Ted Chen, 29, and Mr Martin Lim, 48, who both spoke in front of a gathering of the world’s top energy professionals to explain how they are each trying to encourage people in Singapore, and beyond, to adopt more sustainable energy practices.

TODAY spoke to both men to find out how they are trying to do this with their respective energy startups.

IMPORTANCE OF DATA ANALYTICS

Despite being an electrical and electronic engineering student specialising in power systems and renewable energy, Mr Ted Chen was more interested in data analytics than a future in the energy sector.

“There’s just so many things you can play around with,” said the Nanyang Technological University alumnus, who uprooted from Taiwan eight years ago to study in Singapore.

The Singapore permanent resident said: “With data, you don’t need someone to tell you what is right or wrong. You can use data and then pick it up for yourself.”

It all came full-circle for Mr Chen when he and his classmate, Mr Phyo Koko, won a hackathon some six years back, which required participants to find a way to combine power electronics, such as sensors, with software algorithms.

The duo’s solution became the basis for them to co-found their startup EverComm Singapore in 2013 after they roped in a third person, Mr Singaravelan Thirugnanasambandan, to help them with the business side of things.

Since then, EverComm has been in the business of helping other businesses — such as hotels and industries — to improve their energy efficiency.

According to the National Climate Change Secretariat website, Singapore is actively supporting research on clean energy technologies to cut carbon emissions.

However, these goals are challenged by limited access to alternative or renewable energy. A better option, it says, is to make energy efficiency a key focus.

“The fact of the matter is … we have the technology to address the climate change issues, but we don't know how to effectively coordinate and execute it,” said Mr Chen.

“That’s why data analytics becomes very important in this area.”

EverComm, for its part, has been able to help businesses optimise their energy efficiency by integrating wireless sensors within a company’s operation systems that are constantly collecting data “every minute, or even, every second”.

Algorithms then analyse the data to provide clients with real time information about where they are “wasting energy” — due to faulty equipment, for instance.

Depending on the customer profile, Mr Chen says they have been able to improve their energy efficiency anywhere from 5 per cent to 40 per cent, in addition to the “30 per cent average productivity improvement”.

To recognise Mr Chen’s contributions to Singapore’s energy sector, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) chose him as the inaugural winner of the youth category of the biennial Singapore Energy Award.

An EMA spokesperson said the youth award, which was presented to Mr Chen last week, was introduced to recognise the overall contributions from young industry professionals who are “passionate about the energy sector”.

The spokesperson said it hopes the award will inspire other youths to contribute to the sector.

On top of managing Evercomm’s overseas operations in Israel, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Myanmar, Mr Chen said the startup is looking to expand to China, India and Germany next.

On the local front, Mr Chen said he hopes to bring more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on board.

While his systems are relatively inexpensive at a “few hundred dollars” per month, compared to the “usual tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars”, Mr Chen said it has been hard getting SME owners to bite.

“They’re in a negative cycle,” said Mr Chen. He explained that due to their limited budget, SMEs generally do not invest in technology, including digital infrastructure.

This not only causes them to “lag behind” in terms of energy efficiency, but their production efficiency as well — which in turn affects revenue generation.

To that end, Mr Chen said EverComm is trying to figure out how to bring his technology down to a level that would allow SMEs to pick it up in a more cost-effective manner.

INCENTIVISING PEOPLE TO THINK GREEN

At an Asia Clean Energy Summit panel discussion held during SIEW on Thursday, Mr Martin Lim told the audience that the new model for businesses and technologies is going to be decentralisation.

“Utilities need to stop thinking of themselves as the alpha predator within an ecosystem,” said the chief executive officer of Electrify, a local energy-technology company that provides a marketplace for retail electricity.

“Instead, be the ocean. Be the ecosystem itself and allow everyone (new players) to thrive,” he urged utility companies.

Speaking to TODAY, Mr Lim said utilities can still benefit by creating a platform to let competitors come in to “serve the customers”.

“Even if they take the customers away from (them), they will still have money to make,” he said.

Fortunately, there is wriggle room for the new players in Singapore.

Thanks to a deregulated energy market, and the appropriate framework, almost anyone can pump electricity back into the national power grid, said Mr Lim.

This gives rise to the possibility of energy trading, a concept that Mr Lim tested recently with 15 participants on Electrify’s Synergy peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading platform.

Satisfied that the idea works, he said Electrify will be starting a six-month long trial around the first quarter of next year that will involve around 60 customers.

No customers are onboard yet. Mr Lim is hoping to find 10 “prosumers” — owners of private households and factories who have solar panels installed on their rooftop — and 50 consumers.

Synergy’s P2P energy trading works by giving consumers, who are keen on opting for green energy, a platform to receive power from prosumers who have excess energy to sell.

Mr Lim reassures that using Synergy will not affect a customer’s power supply in any way, as any shortfall in energy will be supplied from the national power grid.

As energy prices in Singapore are determined every 30 minutes under the Uniform Singapore Energy Price, Mr Lim noted that they can be volatile.

Synergy, on the other hand, allows a prosumer and a consumer to enter a contract for difference — essentially, it means that the two parties will have to agree upon a fixed price. Electrify will then take a commission from each energy transaction on the platform.

Aside from protecting his customers from the volatility of energy prices, he hopes that by incentivising people, it will change their attitude towards green energy.

Mr Lim said if people realise they can earn money by producing green energy, it may create a ripple effect.

“This fulfils a greater agenda towards sustainability, towards being more socially responsible and towards saving the planet even,” he said.