Established in 2010, the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) distinguishes itself through research excellence directed towards outcomes of industry relevance, with focus on systems-level research for tropical megacities. The Institute integrates research across NTU in the context of the energy challenge, and then helps translate outcomes into industry and practice.
The Institute’s research focuses on a host of Interdisciplinary Research Programmes, Flagship Programmes, Consortium Platform and an Accelerator Programme that covers the energy value chain from generation to innovative end-use solutions, motivated by industrialisation and deployment.
During the visit, guests will have an overview of the research innovation of ERI@N, as well as a deep-dive into our autonomous mobility efforts. There will also be a lab tour of the systems engineering & future mobility lab which showcases our projects in the AV and power electronics sector.
Programme:
10am - Arrival of guests at CleanTech One (CTO) and proceed to ERI@N
10:05 - Welcome to ERI@N by Mr. Niels de Boer, Chief Operating Officer, ERI@N. Greeting from Sam Smith, co-chair of S&TDC.
10:20 - Future Mobility Research - overview of CETRAN, AVs and EVs by Niels de Boer.
10:45 - Virtual Safety Testing of Autonomous Vehicle using Scenario-Based Safety Testing by Dr. Virma Rau Aparow, SASEAF Postdoctoral Fellow, ERI@N
11:00 - Lab Tour: Syastems Engineering and Future Mobility Lab - Niels de Boer
11:30 - end of programme.
Julia Thallinger of Advantage Austria reported this from the meeting:
Using an autonomous vehicle in Singapore - a realistic future or still science fiction?
We got an answer on this (and many other questions) at our recent visit to the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) organized by the Science & Technology Diplomatic Circle Singapore.
ERI@N is a pan-university research institute that focuses on the three areas of #energysystems (renewable energy as well as its storage), #grid 2.0 and internet of energy as well as #urbansolutions (smart energy, mobility and energy efficiency). In doing so they try to bridge the gap between academia and industry - two fields that often have very different objectives and follow different KPIs. This can be achieved with so-called living labs, in various testbeds as well as by working closely with over 400 industry partners, via collaborations with more than 100 companies and 2 corporate labs with Rolls-Royce and Surbana Jurong Group.
During the presentation by programme director Niels de Boer, we learned about their two flagship programmes:
🌱 The #RenewableEnergy Integration Demonstrator Singapore (REIDS) is a large-scale programme studying the proper integration of a broad range of renewable energy production, both on- and offshore, the storage of this energy as well as end-use technologies. The microgrids are located at a Singaporean island and are run by different companies as well as Nanyang Technological University Singapore itself.
🌱 The #EcoCampus focuses on the reduction of resources and so far managed to reduce energy consumption by 35%. Interestingly, user behaviour was one of the biggest factors in this decrease - by using crowdsourcing via an app to ask students if rooms at the campus were either too cold or too warm, they managed to implement the ideal average temperature in all rooms while cutting energy usage.
Another interesting project is the concept of a #future town center in Singapore that concentrates on vastly improving public transport, making footpaths and cycling lanes a more stimulating environment, bringing housing closer to the office, adding busses, taxis and shuttles and integrating autonomous vehicles at some point.
And to cut a long story short - even though there are already autonomous busses being tested as part of a cooperation between NTU, Land Transport Authority (LTA) Singapore and Volvo Group, we won’t be seeing self-driving taxis or drones transporting people around Marina Bay anytime soon.