New, improved amenities on Pulau Ubin including micro-grid to harness solar energy to power more households

SINGAPORE: Personal alert buttons for the elderly, an expanded power grid that could potentially provide 90 per cent of Pulau Ubin’s main village electricity needs using solar power – these are some enhancements residents can look forward to. 

The National Parks Board (NParks) said on Saturday (Jun 25) at the annual Ubin Day, that the amenities will help to address the needs of the community and raise the quality of life for the residents. 

There will also be more firefighting facilities, such as fire hydrants and hose reels at the main village, Kampong Sungei Durian and Ubin Living Lab to strengthen the island’s fire management response. 

The infrastructure will be ready by 2023, said NParks, which is also Pulau Ubin’s central managing agency. 

“The aim is to provide both community first responders and firefighters with improved firefighting infrastructure, to allow for a continuous and controllable supply of water, as well as better coverage of buildings,” it added. 

The Pulau Ubin power grid will be upgraded with the installation of a solar green roof connected to an advanced energy storage system. 

The solar green roof is expected to reduce the ambient temperature of solar PV modules by 3 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius, increasing the efficiency of the solar PV system by between 1.5 per cent to 4 percent.

An energy storage system will be deployed to improve the reliability of the grid for the island.  

As requested by the residents, the grid will be extended to Kampong Sungei Durian to provide sustainable electricity supply to more users on the island, said NParks and the Energy Market Authority (EMA). 

The improved micro-grid could potentially meet 90 per cent of the daily electricity demand in the main village using solar power, the authorities added.