Largest industrial district cooling system to be built in Ang Mo Kio by 2025

Written by Ang Qing

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/largest-industrial-district-cooling-system-to-be-built-in-ang-mo-kio-by-2025?force_isolation=true

 
SINGAPORE – Ang Mo Kio will have the largest district cooling system to date, with the network in STMicroelectronics’ TechnoPark capable of cutting the industrial development’s annual electricity consumption by 20 per cent.

Announcing the project on Wednesday (May 18), utilities company SP Group and global semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics said the network has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 120,000 tonnes per year.

That is the equivalent of taking 109,090 cars off the road.

The news comes on the heels of announcements over the last month of plans to install or expand district cooling networks around Singapore, namely Kent Ridge, Jurong Lake District, Tampines and Marina Bay.

Singapore has been looking to cut electricity usage and carbon emissions with district cooling networks, which allow clusters of buildings to share and optimise the load of cooling through centralised chiller plants.

The project in Ang Mo Kio is slated to be operational in 2025, with STMicroelectronics investing US$370 million (S$514 million) over 20 years, the two companies said.

Along with lower energy consumption, the estimated decarbonisation stems from repurposing more than 4,000 sq m set aside for chiller plants, which will be free once the district cooling system becomes operational.

This will provide space for solar energy and perfluorocarbon (PFC) abatement equipment – systems that reduce PFC emissions produced from manufacturing semiconductors that are harmful to the environment.

Under an agreement signed between the companies on Wednesday, SP will design, build and operate the system, pumping chilled water to meet both the manufacturing and spatial cooling needs of the industrial development in Ang Mo Kio.

Under a joint venture between SP and Daikin Singapore, the new district cooling plant supplying chilled water to STMicroelectronics’ TechnoPark will be built in Daikin Airconditioning Singapore’s main office in Ang Mo Kio.

Hailing district cooling as key to empowering a low-carbon future for cities, townships and industrial parks, SP group chief executive Stanley Huang said the solution was customised to help energy-intensive manufacturing developments such as STMicroelectronics’ TechnoPark reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint in line with sustainability strategies.

Ms Rajita D’Souza, president of human resources and corporate social responsibility at STMicroelectronics, said: “The cooling system in Singapore will be STMicroelectronics’ first deployment of district cooling at a manufacturing facility globally and is a strong statement of our commitment to our target to become carbon-neutral globally by 2027.”

Adopting district cooling at the company’s single largest wafer fabrication site in terms of volume will eliminate 120,000 tonnes of carbon from the environment, she said.

This is equivalent to 30 per cent of carbon emissions of STMicroelectronics Singapore in 2021, making it a key enabler for the facility and the company to achieve its sustainability goals, she added.

On Wednesday, SP and Daikin also signed an agreement to explore the potential of district cooling in South-east Asia, starting with Indonesia.

Mr Liu Shaw Jiun, chief executive of Daikin Airconditioning Singapore, said the upcoming shift of Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan made the country the top choice for expanding its business model for district cooling.

“In the shaping of a new township, they can implement such technology before the town is built, which will be a more economical and efficient way of managing cooling capacity for mass populations and buildings,” he said.

He added that projects in Indonesia could pave the way for similar forays into Thailand and Vietnam, countries Daikin has projects in.

Talks of future district cooling projects in Indonesia have begun with various stakeholders, said an SP spokesman, adding that further details cannot be disclosed as these discussions are still in a preliminary stage.