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Experimental Power Grid Centre

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations9
System facts22
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Singapore's Experimental Power Grid Centre opened on Jurong Island in 2011 as a configurable 1 MW research microgrid where generation, storage, loads, and grid disturbances could be reproduced without risking the public network. The original A*STAR/ICES facility included diesel generators, solar, multiple storage chemistries, emulators, and Meidensha's MicroGrid Central Controller. It now operates under Nanyang Technological University's Energy Research Institute as the Electrification and Power Grids Centre, with updated storage, power-electronics, motor, simulation, and hardware-in-the-loop platforms.

Research status
Operational under Nanyang Technological University as the Electrification and Power Grids Centre. The site remains active in 2026 and is hosting a new FutureGrid Accelerator testbed; public sources do not establish which original 2011 assets remain in service unchanged.
Historical classification
Building
Reported capacity
1 MW
Coordinates
1.27596, 103.67680
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Experimental Power Grid Centre?

9 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

A Star

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Agency for Science, Technology and Research

Original owner and launcher of the Experimental Power Grid Centre [3][4]

Organization

Energy Research Institute @ NTU

Current operator and research organization for EPGC [5]

Organization

ICES

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences

A*STAR institute that originally operated the Jurong Island research facility [3][2]

Organization

Meidensha Corporation

Turnkey system supplier for the original building, MicroGrid Central Controller, distributed resources, emulators, and test infrastructure [2]

Organization

Nanyang Technological University

Current institutional home of the renamed Electrification and Power Grids Centre [5][6]

Organization

Rolls-Royce, Vestas, and SP PowerGrid

Industrial research collaborators named around the original launch program [3]

Organization

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres

Partner with NTU on the 2026 FutureGrid Accelerator high-voltage direct-current and AI-infrastructure testbed hosted at EPGC [6]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
60 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
400 [1]
Storage
300 kW LA, LI, Ultra-Capacitors [1]
Original research-grid rating
1 MW configurable experimental power grid [2][7]
Original diesel generation
Three generator sets rated 40 kW, 100 kW, and 200 kW (340 kW total) [2]
Original photovoltaic system
60 kW [2]
Original electrochemical storage
110 kWh lead-acid plus two 20 kWh lithium-ion systems (40 kWh lithium-ion total); public paper does not provide comparable power ratings for all batteries [2]
Original ultracapacitors
60 kW and 90 kW units, each specified for approximately ±30 seconds [2]
Original emulators and loads
90 kW four-quadrant grid emulator, 10 kW wind emulator, and programmable loads of 50 kW, 150 kW, and 300 kW [2]
Original electrical bus
415 V, three-phase four-wire, 50 Hz, 3,000 A test bus interfaced to Singapore's 22 kV network [2]
Current listed test platforms
Includes a 200 kW energy-storage test system, 500 kW motor platform, 100 kW PV-inverter platform, real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop, multi-functional electrical testing, and building-energy-management research [5]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Microgrid controller

Meidensha Corporation — MicroGrid Central Controller (MGCC)

Original supervisory controller for dispatch, test sequencing, and grid-connected/islanded experiments [2]

02

Original storage portfolio

Model not publicly disclosed

Lead-acid, lithium-ion, and two short-duration ultracapacitor systems allowed comparison of energy- and power-oriented storage. Component manufacturers beyond the turnkey integrator were not disclosed in the reviewed paper. [2]

03

Current research equipment

Model not publicly disclosed

NTU lists energy-storage, large-motor, PV-inverter, controller-hardware-in-the-loop, and real-time digital simulation facilities; its page does not equate these current platforms one-for-one with the original 2011 equipment. [5]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Storage

    Storage • Lead-acid batteries • Lithium-ion batteries • Ultra-capacitors unit 1 • Ultra-capacitors unit 2 110 kWh 40 kWh 90 kW 60 kW [1]

  • Generation

    PV, Diesel, Flow Batteries, Microturbines, Fuel Cell, EV Charging [1]

  • Configurable architecture

    Three buses could be operated independently or rearranged in series, parallel, and loop configurations. The emulators let researchers impose voltage, frequency, renewable-output, and load conditions without disturbing the public power system. [2]

  • Timeline

    The facility officially opened on November 1, 2011. A*STAR described continuing industrial microgrid work in 2018, and the International Energy Agency still listed the 1 MW center as an in-force measure in its June 2025 update. [3][4][7]

  • Institutional transition

    The acronym EPGC is retained, but the current name is Electrification and Power Grids Centre rather than Experimental Power Grid Centre. It is now presented as an NTU Energy Research Institute capability rather than an A*STAR/ICES facility. [5]

  • 2026 expansion

    NTU announced the FutureGrid Accelerator at EPGC in 2026 to study high-voltage direct-current architectures, AI/data-center power demand, and next-generation infrastructure with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres. [6]

  • Scope caution

    A*STAR's 2018 article also describes a much larger Sabang Island project. Its 1.4 MWp solar, 1.2 MW diesel, and 2.3 MWh battery ratings belong to Sabang, not to the Jurong Island EPGC test grid. [4]

  • Public evidence gap

    Current public pages do not give a retirement/retention inventory for the original diesel sets, PV array, batteries, ultracapacitors, or MGCC, so their 2026 service status is explicitly unknown. [2][5]

Provenance

7 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Micro-grids: Powering Asia's growth story

    Agency for Science, Technology and Research · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Electrification and Power Grids Centre

    Nanyang Technological University · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    Experimental Power Grid Center

    International Energy Agency · Primary source

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