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  Today Online 22 Dec 06
First soaked, now we're in the dark
Hour-long power cut affects large swathes of Singapore
Lin Yanqin

Channel NewsAsia 21 Dec 06
Power supply restored after blackout, Senoko Power could face fines
By May Wong and Pearl Forss

Channel NewsAsia 22 Dec 06
Recent power failure a good wake-up call not to be complacent: economist
By Johnson Choo

SINGAPORE : Economists have described Thursday's power failure as a good wake-up call for Singapore.

They noted that while taking pride in positioning itself as a business hub with an excellent infrastructure, the country must be careful not to become complacent. The last major power failure in Singapore on 29 June 2004 is estimated to have cost businesses some S$6 million in losses.

While the losses this time round are still being tallied, analysts say Thursday's outage could put a dampener on Singapore's reputation as an efficient base for regional operational headquarters.

Associate Professor Annie Koh, Dean, Executive Education, SMU, said, "It's a good wake up call. I'm glad it (was) in pockets of residential areas and not so much where the whole financial centre is..But I think we have to recognise that if we keep telling people that we are around, we are awake 24/7 and this is the place for you to put all your data, put your soft-skills, put your service, we better deliver on that promise."

With domestic demand projected to grow at 4.5 percent annually, the government is taking a serious view in ensuring a sustainable and steady supply of electricity.

Currently, about 70 percent of Singapore's electricity is generated by natural gas, sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia. Besides relying on diesel as a backup, energy companies have been looking to diversify their fuel sources. This includes the use of liquefied natural gas.

Associate Professor Koh said, "You'll notice that we've talked (about) and explored different forms of fuel like bio-fuels, anything that we can do R&D on. So if you (look) at it, it's no longer just dependent on raw material, we are also growing the R&D to support the service side. So what you don't see may be the manufacturing, but everything that we do is to give us that reason for existence - as a hub for trading, a hub for service support..."

The Energy Market Authority has put in place regulatory controls to improve reliability by imposing tough punitive measures for interrupted service. Experts say this will go in some way to deter complacency. - CNA/ms

Channel NewsAsia 21 Dec 06
Power supply restored after blackout, Senoko Power could face fines
By May Wong and Pearl Forss

SINGAPORE : Several parts of Singapore experienced a power failure on Thursday afternoon.

Callers to the MediaCorp News hotline reported the blackouts in several areas around the island. Hawkers at Golden Mile Food Centre simply took the power outage in their stride, as they continued to tend their stall with the help of candles. Power supply there was disrupted for about two hours. Other areas affected included Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Batok, Bukit Timah, Woodlands and Jalan Eunos.

The reason for the blackout - two power generation plants at Senoko Power Station tripped. The two power generation units failed because Senoko experienced a disruption in gas supply from Petronas, Malaysia. Senoko says this is its first gas supply incident here. Senoko supplies about 30 percent of electricity to Singapore. The incident today caused its supply to dip by about 10 percent.

Senoko says the incident was sudden and instantaneous. "We have normally, in such circumstances, switch to both either diesel fire-generation or to switch to alternative gas supplies. But the instantaneous nature of the supply disruption meant that we were unable to call in such backup capability," explains Roy Adair, president and CEO of Senoko Power.

Senoko says the incident is also not due to the wet weather or poor maintenance. "In fact, the whole facility is regularly maintained and it's been recently checked, so the entire infrastructure related to the gas supply is working perfectly. So at this stage, we're looking to the results of our investigation," says Adair.

Senoko says a comprehensive investigation is underway and the losses it says will be penalty enough.

The last time such a major power failure took place was on 29 June 2004. Since then, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has imposed new regulatory controls on the energy market to prevent blackouts from taking place again.

More than 300,000 homes were left in the dark in June 2004. What happened then was that piped gas from Indonesia to Singapore's power stations was disrupted by a technical fault. And most turbines were unable to switch to the backup source of fuel - diesel. This severely affected power supply and the result was major economic losses of over $6 million and "a harmed reputation" for Singapore according to the government.

One month later, EMA announced new regulatory controls. The aim is to improve reliability by imposing tougher penalties for poor performance. This included a $1 million fine for blackouts affecting areas, for example, the size of a housing board estate. The penalty rises to $2 million for the third and subsequent occurrences within a year of the first incidence. A $50,000 fine is imposed for blackouts affecting a few blocks of flats. This rises to $100,000 for the third and subsequent incident occurring in a month. Companies also face a fine of up to $50,000 if power is not restored within 3 hours of a blackout that affects, for example, a hotel or commercial building.

It is still uncertain at this point what penalty Senoko Power will face, at least after a thorough investigation is conducted. After the June 2004 incident, a high-level committee was also set up to look at how to prevent such disruptions.

The panel suggested that Singapore import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to diversify the fuel mix and increase energy security. The government approved this proposal and a LNG receiving terminal, costing some US$500 million, will be built by 2012.

The committee also urged Singapore to move to an open access, interconnected gas transmission system. In an open access system, any gas producer can offer gas into a common pool and importers can draw from it to meet their needs.

Currently, about 70 percent of Singapore's electricity is generated by natural gas, sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia's West Natuna and South Sumatra fields. The panel said Singapore should have more diversified sources of natural gas. - CNA /ls

Today Online 22 Dec 06
First soaked, now we're in the dark
Hour-long power cut affects large swathes of Singapore
Lin Yanqin yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

TWO days after parts of Singapore were deluged by floods, people across the island abruptly found themselves without electricity for nearly an hour yesterday.

As the power went out, the shutdown left a trail of people affected in its wake. Work ground to a halt for some as power went out in office buildings. Gridlocks ensued as traffic lights stopped blinking at some junctions, while a few Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries shut down. Some found themselves trapped in lifts, while others were forced to use the stairs.

From Bukit Batok to Sengkang, Jalan Eunos to Mandai, many parts of Singapore had their supply of electricity cut off at about 3.55pm. It was fully restored at around 4.40pm. According to a statement from Senoko Power Limited, the power failure came about as gas supplies from Petronas in Malaysia to the station were interrupted, resulting in two generators being unable to generate electricity.

This was the first time such an incident has occurred since the gas supply's inception in 1992. The reason behind the sudden interruption is still being investigated.

When asked if the poor weather over the past few days was a possible factor, Senoko declined to comment. "At this point we do not include or exclude any possible factor and will look into every relevant factor," said its spokesperson.

For some in the affected areas, the shutdown meant mere inconvenience. Mr Kan Wing Keong, 39, who was out walking his dog, had to walk up 11 floors to get to his Anchorvale Drive flat.

But for others, it was valuable time--and money--lost. Said Mr Loo Chor Sung, a deliveryman who was at Sungei Kadut Avenue: "We workers were happy of course, but it was a huge headache for the boss."

Less amused was Mr William Ng, a trader living in Choa Chu Kang. "I was working from home, trading in the stock market, when the power just went out, in the middle of buying and selling," he said. "It's not possible to calculate any loss, but in trading, even seconds count--let alone half an hour."

He saw that the traffic lights outside his flat were not working. "I went down and saw that the whole Limbang Shopping Centre was in darkness, and everything was at a standstill," he said.

The Land Transport Authority confirmed that traffic lights in the affected areas did not function over the period, and the Traffic Police had to help direct traffic.

The ERP gantries on Nicoll Highway and Crawford Street were also affected, only resuming operations within an hour of power being restored.

Some members of the public also found themselves unable to make phone calls, but SingTel has said that phone services were not affected by the power failure. Said SingTel spokesperson Mr Chia Boon Chong: "Sometimes people forget that the cordless phone they are using is plugged into a power source, and that could be the cause of them not being able to make calls. If you are using a fixed line, there shouldn't have been a problem."

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received eight phone calls from members of the public reporting that people were trapped in lifts, though half proved to be false alarms. People in the other four cases were rescued by the Emergency Maintenance Service Unit, whose number was listed in the lifts. The SCDF advised the public not to panic in such cases as rescue teams are on standby, and added that emergency hotlines such as 999 and 995 should be kept free for real emergency calls.

For updates on power failures, tune in to local radio stations or dial the Singapore Power Grid 24-hour hotline at 1800 778-6666.
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