You’re finally home.
The room cool, the TV glowing.
For a moment, everything feels just right –
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Like breathing,
it is easy to forget how much our lives depend on electricity.
Until the lights go out.
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A city that has almost forgotten about blackouts
The average Singaporean experiences only seconds of power interruption each year – the result of a complex grid designed to keep the lights on, almost without pause
seconds
That was the average duration of electricity disruptions experienced by a Singapore resident or business annually between 2021 and 2025 – among the lowest globally. This places Singapore alongside cities such as Beijing, Melbourne, Munich and Tokyo as home to one of the world's most reliable power systems.
Average annual electricity disruption experienced by a Singapore resident or business
Year
*SAIDI: System Average Interruption Duration Index
Measured using the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), a global benchmark for grid reliability, the figure measures the average duration of power interruptions experienced by each customer annually. This reflects how rarely electricity disruptions occur in Singapore.
The steady, uninterrupted flow of electricity received in Singapore’s homes and businesses is not coincidental.
It is the result of a vast, largely unseen effort – one that runs quietly beneath our streets and across our skyline – by the staff at the home-grown electricity grid and gas network operator.
Jimmy Khoo, 65, chief executive officer of SP PowerGrid, says: “In tandem with Singapore’s growth over the decades, our electricity grid has been expanded and adapted to support new towns, industries and businesses. Today, that foundation of reliability enables future development plans – from meeting growing demand and electrification, to integrating new energy sources and a more sustainable energy future.
“Behind this reliability is the sustained effort of our engineers and technical teams, who work round the clock to monitor the grid, inspect and maintain our assets, and plan years ahead.”
The race to replace ageing cables and prevent failures
Being caught in a traffic jam due to excavation works can feel frustrating. What most drivers do not see, however, are workers on the other side of the safety barriers – toiling under the blazing sun, digging up decades-old cables metre by metre and replacing them before they run their course.
Leading such projects is executive engineer R Bharath Ram. The 30-year-old is part of the Asset Renewal team that oversees cable renewal works across the island, ensuring ageing assets are replaced in a timely manner. His days begin at different sites, depending on which part of Singapore’s power network is due for renewal.
“Power cables typically last about 30 to 40 years, so our work is about proactively renewing them to minimise the risk of unexpected failures,” explains Bharath.
Before works begin, his team conducts site investigations and trial trenches, working closely with agencies and stakeholders to assess worksite conditions and minimise disruption to residents and road users.
“Every site is different,” he says. “We need to adapt our approach based on the surrounding environment, traffic conditions and the other infrastructure already underground, while ensuring the renewal works can be carried out safely and efficiently.”
Switching out a 500-metre stretch of cable takes about six months, depending on the site and the complexity of the surroundings. One recent project in Toa Payoh took nearly a year because the route had to be changed twice after site investigations and excavation works uncovered challenges underground.
“The original cable was laid in the 1980s to support Singapore’s early economic and social development. Since then, the underground space has become far more congested, making renewal works today far more complex and requiring closer coordination and assessments,” he explains.
During heavy downpours, which are becoming more common, the team must set up and activate pumps to keep rainwater from inundating the trenches. Hourly temperature-taking and water breaks are mandated when the mercury soars.
Some excavations reach as deep as four metres underground, triggering additional safety gear and equipment. “Physically, the work on-site can be very demanding but safety remains our highest priority,” Bharath says. “As a driver, I used to also find roadworks inconvenient, but after being involved in the works myself, I have a better understanding of why they are necessary.”
As Singapore’s underground infrastructure becomes increasingly dense and interconnected, the work of renewing ageing infrastructure is not only more complex, but also more critical in ensuring that electricity continues to flow reliably to homes and businesses across the island.
Executive engineer R Bharath Ram is part of the team responsible for replacing ageing power cables across the island.
“
Replacing ageing cables is like changing worn-out tyres. It’s essential to keeping everything safe and reliable. This takes considerable effort, but knowing we’re helping to prevent faults before they happen makes all the effort worthwhile.”
- R Bharath Ram
executive engineer of projects at SP Group
Did you know?
Singapore’s 28,000km of underground electricity cables is enough to stretch to San Francisco and back.
While Bharath and his team work on the streets, another department in SP Group is busy planning: looking over which switchgears, cables and transformers need to be replaced, and getting substations ready to connect upcoming public flats, schools, factories and offices to the grid.
In this Asset Planning and Strategy team, the goal is just as simple as it is difficult: keeping Singapore electrified, as its power demand and supply grow and become more diverse.
Planning for a Singapore that doesn’t yet exist
For Lim Huang Huang, the division’s deputy director of distribution planning, work means thinking in phases, by weeks, months and years, often all at the same time.
Planning how to connect street lighting to the grid can be done in weeks. Figuring out how to supply power to future public housing estates? That takes months. National projects, such as setting out charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), can be multi-year endeavours.
Beyond supplying electricity to new developments, she and her colleagues plan ahead for the renewal and expansion of infrastructure so the grid remains stable and resilient, supporting the homes, businesses and industries that power Singapore's economy today while making room for tomorrow's growth.
As the city-state progresses, meeting its energy needs will only become more complex, with fresh demands and supplies, such as renewable energy sources and power imports, complicating the equation in grid operations.
In the past few years, more energy-intensive facilities such as wafer fabrication plants, data centres, and fleets of electric vehicles and buses have come on board. This has increased the demand for high-capacity electricity infrastructure and substations capable of supporting larger power loads.
On the supply side, decentralised energy sources such as solar energy are changing how electricity flows through the grid. Traditionally, electricity moved in one direction, from power plants to homes and businesses. Today, electricity generated from rooftop solar systems and energy storage systems flowing back into the network creates a more dynamic and decentralised system.
“In the past, I only needed to plan the electricity network to deliver power to customers. Now, I also need to factor in electricity flowing back into the system, which makes the work much more complex,” Lim notes.
The challenge is compounded by Singapore’s land scarcity and increasingly competing demands for space, making work more challenging than when she started 12 years ago. “We have less space to work with now, but need to support more – and increasingly complex – energy demands. We also have to keep looking ahead and anticipating future trends because the energy landscape is changing so quickly these days,” the 42-year-old explains.
As the deputy director of distribution planning, Lim Huang Huang helps ensure new homes, MRT lines and upcoming developments have the electricity they need.
EV drivers can now charge their cars at more than 740 outdoor Housing Board carparks following planning works by Lim’s team.
Still, getting it right remains as satisfying and impactful. Among her proudest achievements: helping to energise more than 740 outdoor Housing Board carparks with infrastructure for EV charging points.
The milestone was achieved in 2025 after a three-year collaboration with the Land Transport Authority and charging point operators. The next phase, to support more EV charging across all public car parks in Singapore, is ongoing. “Projects like this take years of planning and coordination before people see the outcome. Today, seeing charging points become increasingly common across Singapore makes the impact of our work feel very tangible,” she says.
“
The work we do is mostly unseen, but it touches almost every part of daily life in Singapore. What makes it rewarding is knowing that the decisions we make today will help power how people live, work, and play for many years to come.”
- Lim Huang Huang
deputy director of distribution planning at SP Group
Increase in Singapore’s electricity demand between 2005 and 2025
SOURCE: ENERGY MARKET AUTHORITY
An evolving landscape
Singapore’s electricity landscape is a far cry from what it was a decade ago. Demand for electricity has grown in the past two decades, driven not only by population and economic growth, but also by emerging trends such as advanced manufacturing, data centres and electrification.
At the same time, the grid itself is evolving. Singapore’s grid must now support increasingly dynamic energy flows as more solar generation, battery storage systems and electric vehicles come onstream. To support this transition, the grid is becoming more intelligent and interconnected, with sensors, automation and digital systems to monitor demand, manage supply and respond more quickly to changing conditions across the network.
Behind Singapore’s grid
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1.7 million
Households and businesses depending on SP Group's electricity network
12,000
Substations delivering electricity safely and reliably across Singapore
>2,500
Engineers and technical staff working round the clock
What happens when the power goes out
Despite having one of the most reliable grids in the world, occasional power disruptions are unavoidable with such sprawling infrastructure. Here’s what SP Group does to resolve an outage that occurs at the network level.
When a power fault occurs…
Staff from SP Group’s Electricity Distribution Control Centre remotely isolates faulty equipment and reconnects affected areas to an alternative supply source, restoring power within minutes.
If remote restoration is not possible...
Officers are deployed to the substation linked to the faulty equipment to manually isolate the fault and restore power supply. This is usually done for faults in low-voltage networks, such as damage to overground boxes that distribute electricity to customers.
At the same time, mobile generators are deployed to provide temporary electricity supply while SP Group addresses the problem.
While the generators are running…
Staff from SP Group carries out repair works on the faulty equipment or adopt cable jointing – a process where engineers join two unaffected sections of the power network together – to bypass the faulty portion and restore electricity supply.
Because the damaged section has to be isolated and new connections made on site, this takes more time than switching.
Tracking grid health, with a set of smart “eyes”
Replacing ageing assets is only part of the work to keep outages to a minimum. Every day, Eric Lee and other technical officers in SP Group’s Asset Sensing and Analytics team focus on the other part: keeping the network in tip-top condition.
Since 2020, the team has carried out its work country-wide with the help of some digital partners: intelligent sensors, installed on critical electrical equipment to watch over them.
Any sign of potential trouble, and the sensors alert the 46-year-old and his colleagues, enabling them to move quickly to nip the problem in the bud, whether by replacing the equipment, or localising and fixing faults.
Technical officer Eric Lee and his team use intelligent sensors to monitor Singapore’s power grid around the clock, detecting potential issues before they lead to power outages.
“Our response time has improved, and we’ve strengthened overall grid reliability because we can intervene much earlier, before issues develop into full disruptions,” Lee says.
The use of remote sensors has also transformed how the team carries out maintenance. Instead of relying heavily on routine manual inspections, engineers can now monitor the condition of critical equipment remotely and prioritise maintenance based on real-time asset conditions.
By reducing unnecessary site visits and enabling manpower to be focused on areas that require more urgent attention, the smart system has saved the SP Group about 1,000 man-hours each year while improving staff well-being.
And there are more innovations being piloted or in the works.
Did you know?
Most of Singapore’s electricity does not start at a plug. It begins with gas – delivered through SP Group’s pipelines to power stations, where it is turned into the electricity that keeps the country running.
Singapore gets natural gas from both pipelines and liquefied natural gas imports. This means if one source is disrupted, another can help keep power flowing.
Beyond powering electricity generation, SP Group also supplies piped gas directly to homes and businesses across Singapore for everyday uses, from kitchen stoves to water heaters and dryers.
Planning for the grid of tomorrow
Singapore’s power grid may have held steady for decades, but the demands on it are shifting. Vigneswaran Sellakannu, 52, the group’s head of grid planning and strategy, is leading the effort to get the grid ready.
“With Singapore targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, we’re also looking at more solar power and clean energy imports. That’s good news for sustainability, but it also means we must adapt the grid accordingly.”
SP Group is also exploring ways to make its electricity network more intelligent and flexible. Among the reasons: solar power, one of Singapore’s key sources of renewable energy, is generated in the day, while its growing numbers of EVs are mostly charged at night.
“As the grid becomes more dynamic with the integration of diverse energy sources, AI and advanced digital technologies will help us optimise network operations and make more informed decisions,” Vigneswaran says.
Multiple pilots are underway as SP Group prepares the grid to manage greater fluctuations in electricity demand and supply.
These include battery systems that can store extra renewable energy, such as solar power, for use when needed later. Supporting software such as the Distributed Energy Resource Management System can help predict changes in renewable energy supply, helping the system respond more smoothly to fluctuations.
As Singapore moves towards cleaner energy and electrification, SP Group’s head of grid planning, strategy and transition Vigneswaran Sellakannu is helping prepare the power grid for a smarter, lower-carbon future.
Virtual power plants are among the newer systems being tested on a small scale. These systems coordinate energy from different sources, such as solar panels and batteries, automatically deciding in real time whether electricity should be sent to the grid, stored for later or used immediately depending on demand.
“
Everything we do at SP Group is for the same objective: to make sure Singapore always has reliable electricity. Not just today, but years and years into the future.”
- Vigneswaran Sellakannu
SP Group’s head of grid planning, strategy and transition at its PowerGrid division
Further ahead, Vigneswaran anticipates larger-scale digital twins of the power network and its assets being developed by SP Group and the Energy Market Authority of Singapore from today’s smaller models. These could eventually be used for simulations and stress tests as part of the Future Grid Capabilities Roadmap.
Jointly developed by the two agencies, the road map is a plan that sets out how Singapore’s electricity grid must evolve to handle growing challenges, such as rising energy demand and cleaner energy sources, while identifying the key areas needed to make the power system more resilient and adaptable.
Artificial intelligence is set to play a larger role in supporting human decision-making across operational processes, allowing us to better plan ahead, maintain our assets more effectively, and respond to issues faster. Beyond grid operations, AI is streamlining workflow to improve productivity and enhance service quality.
While technology is reshaping grid operations, the company has also been working with the Union of Power and Gas Employees to ensure employees are equipped for the changes taking place across the organisation – reflecting how the grid of the future will depend not just on smarter systems, but people who can adapt alongside them.