As global power asset investment accelerates, the engineering challenge is clear: build an infrastructure that is not only sustainable but also operationally resilient.
The projected growth in the global power sector, with annual CAPEX set to exceed S$1,153 billion by 2035, underscores a period of intense transformation. For engineers, this investment is directed at solving a complex problem: transitioning to a decentralised, decarbonised energy model while simultaneously hardening infrastructure against climate and cyber threats.
“While we can generate the electrons, we must also know how to transmit them in the most resilient manner,” said Wooi Leong Tan, Senior Executive Director, Energy at SJ Group (SJ). This requires a holistic strategy where grid upgrades, digital systems, energy storage, and resilient physical networks are holistically engineered to function as a single, cohesive ecosystem.
The digital nervous system
The transition to a decentralised grid, rich with distributed energy resources (DERs), fundamentally alters operational dynamics, shifting from hundreds of control points to potentially millions. An IoT-enabled smart grid acts as the digital nervous system required to manage this complexity.
For engineers, this architecture enables critical functions including real-time renewable generation forecasting, automated power plant control, and the aggregation of DERs. “By automating the demand side management,” Tan said, “we will then be able to look in real-time at all the market tariffs’ fluctuations and better manage our overall energy supply + storage efficiency”. In practice, this involves designing a network architecture that facilitates demand-side management and integrates a multi-energy mix. For one major integrated healthcare development, for example, SJ configured a microgrid architecture to manage grid power, trigeneration with district cooling, renewables, and hybrid energy storage systems under a single, smart distributed energy management system.
Grid-forming energy storage systems
To counteract the intermittency of renewables, energy storage systems (ESS) are essential for ensuring grid stability. The key innovation is the move towards grid-forming capabilities, which are critical in grids with low system inertia. Unlike grid-following inverters that act as a current source, grid-forming systems function as a voltage source, providing virtual inertia, enabling seamless transitions between grid-connected and islanded modes, and facilitating black-start capabilities. “Grid-forming microgrids either using… lithium-ion batteries or using flow batteries or others ESS… will be crucial components,” Tan said.
Hybrid systems are emerging as an optimal solution, pairing the strengths of different chemistries. For example, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are highly suited for long-duration storage and high cycle life, while lithium-ion batteries provide the high power density and rapid response needed for frequency control. A pioneering underground hybrid system currently in development features containerised VRFB electrolyte tanks, a power stack, and a microgrid power conversion system with a hybrid controller, optimising performance while minimising land use.
Making the backbone resilient
The physical transmission and distribution (T&D) network remains the backbone of the energy system, and it must be engineered to address persistent challenges like voltage stability, frequency stability, and load flow management.
Modern T&D design trends focus on enhancing resilience through innovative engineering. These include modular underground substations as space-saving solutions for dense cities, and long-distance subsea high-voltage direct current cables for low-loss, cross-border power transfer.
Climate adaptation is now a core design consideration. Tan said this increasingly involved engineering flood-proof substations that are elevated, sealed or placed underground, and designing fire-resistant transmission corridors by undergrounding lines in high-risk areas. For one national grid, SJ was engaged to develop a climate change strategy that assessed the thermal impact on asset efficiency and the feasibility of undergrounding substations to mitigate flooding risks.
Securing the integrated ecosystem
A holistic, digitised grid is an interconnected one, and this creates new vulnerabilities. “As we get more and more into improving and modernising our grid infrastructures… cybersecurity also becomes a bigger challenge,” Tan said. Regulations at both national and international levels are vital for the secure adoption of IoT-based systems, but compliance alone is not enough.
Engineering a secure ecosystem requires a multi-layered defence strategy to ensure that grid infrastructure is continuously monitored, protected, and capable of containment in the event of a cyberattack. This involves designing systems that are both secure against intrusion and resilient against attacks that are difficult to prevent, with no single point of failure that could compromise the entire network.
Key technical measures include deploying AI-driven grid anomaly detection to predict and isolate intrusions, implementing air-gapped SCADA systems to isolate sensitive grid controls, and conducting continuous penetration testing to proactively identify and remedy weaknesses in grid defences.
By integrating these generation, transmission, digital, storage, physical, and security pillars, the engineering community can deliver an energy infrastructure that is not just sustainable, but truly resilient.
As part of its Industry Partners series, Engineers Australia hosted Wooi Leong Tan for a free webinar entitled Powering resilient energy infrastructure on September 25. Learn more here.
