DNV played a key role in commissioning South-East Asia’s largest energy storage system (ESS) as technical advisor.

DNV’s testing and evaluation support secured a basis for a guaranteed commitment to launch the 285MWh Sembcorp Energy Storage System on Jurong Island into commercial operation

Developer Sembcorp’s build, own, operate (BOO) project is key to supporting Singapore’s transition towards cleaner energy sources.

The independent energy expert and assurance provider DNV has acted as the advisor for the commissioning of the energy storage system (ESS) developed by Sembcorp Industries on Singapore’s Jurong Island.

DNV ensured the completeness and proper execution of mandatory Site Execution Test (SAT) activities, an important milestone on the way to launch the 285 megawatt hour (MWh) storage system into commercial operation, marking the completion of the plant qualification process.

Keeping the Jurong Island energy storage on track

DNV’s role in the ESS project covered witnessing the mandated tests, processing the raw data, and approving the final commissioning reports from two different original equipment manufacturers, Huawei and Envision.

The project went online as planned in December 2022, as scheduled by Sembcorp. Commissioning the project took only six months compared to the industry average of 15 to 18 months for similar capacity installations. “Despite the very tight timeline set, adhering to the schedule was critical in this project. This required us to adopt an agile way of working that involved a regular review and strict adherence to priorities,” said Dr. George Garabandic, DNV project manager and Energy Storage Systems Lead, APAC.

“The 285MWh Sembcorp ESS on Jurong Island, the largest in Southeast Asia, was commissioned in six months, making it the fastest deployment of its size in the world. These milestones were only made possible by the close partnership between Sembcorp and DNV, who provided their energy storage industry expertise and independent validation services in support of the record-setting deployment,” said Mr. Chua Kia, Head, Project Management Office, Singapore & Southeast Asia, Sembcorp Industries.

Jurong Island ESS advances Singapore’s ambitions for energy storage

In 2019, Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) set a deployment target of at least 200MWh of energy storage system capacity beyond 2025, to complement Singapore’s efforts in maximising solar adoption. Sembcorp’s energy storage system – with a maximum capacity of 285MWh connected to the grid – marks the achievement of Singapore’s energy storage target ahead of time. The fast response nature of ESS is essential in mitigating solar intermittency caused by changing weather conditions in Singapore’s tropical climate. It would also enhance Singapore’s power grid stability and resilience by managing mismatches between electricity demand and supply

Brice le Gallo, DNV’s Vice President and Regional Director, Energy Systems for Asia Pacific

Brice le Gallo, DNV’s Vice President and Regional Director, Energy Systems for Asia Pacific, said: “We are delighted to have been trusted with this work on the largest utility-scale ESS in Southeast Asia. As demonstrated by this project that will cover the needs of around 24,000 households1, energy storage is a central element supporting the deployment of solar power – one of the four ‘switches’ identified for Singapore’s energy transition. We have played a key role in Sembcorp’s energy storage system on Jurong Island and are looking forward to being involved with many such projects in the future.”