Reader's Response Draft 1 (ENGIE - District heating and cooling systems)

In the webpage, “District heating and cooling systems'', ENGIE (2013) has stated that ENGIE has been a leading edge in the urban cooling network industry in Europe for 30 years. ENGIE has managed 320 heating and cooling systems around the world ranging from Paris to Malaysia and the Middle Eastern nations while simultaneously ensuring that the environment is protected.  The webpage has mentioned that ENGIE customized its services based on the countries’ needs. ENGIE has aimed to increase the usage of renewable sources to 50% in its European urban networks from 2018 onwards. ENGIE’s operation in Lisbon was on the right path as its heating and cooling network has decreased its annual CO2 emissions by 40%. ENGIE’s approach of its cooling network in comparison to a conventional air conditioning system has achieved greater energy efficiency, lesser water, and electricity consumption, and has emitted less carbon dioxide.

Since the webpage has demonstrated that the implementation of district cooling network system has a sustainable impact on the environment, Singapore would require full commitment to implement more district cooling networks projects as a solution to mitigate the current Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect which is a contributing factor to Singapore’s climate change problems.

Singapore has the world’s largest underground district cooling network which operates at Marina Bay since 2006. It is operated by Singapore Power (SP) Group. The underground system has a 5km centralised piping network to serve its customers in the Marina Bay financial district. They are expected to save more than 40% energy savings which equate to powering up 24,000 three-room Housing and Development Board (HDB) units (Othman, L. 2016). The system serves more than 20 developments, and the notable customers are developments such as Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Raffles Place MRT Station, and the Marina Bay Financial Centre (SP Group, 2021). The underground system will eliminate the required space and upfront costs as it does not require on-site chillers and cooling towers to be installed.

ENGIE has been awarded by Jurong Town Corporation and Singapore Institute of Technology to design 30,000 refrigeration tons of District Cooling System infrastructure in Punggol Digital District (PDC) in Singapore (ENGIE, 2019). PDC is the first district in Singapore to take on an integrated masterplan approach that brings a business park, a university, and community facilities. This project will enhance energy efficiency and sustainability.

Tengah, a future HDB town located within the west region in Singapore will be Singapore’s first sustainable town that incorporates the centralised cooling system (CCS). This system will achieve a lower carbon footprint compared to other HDB estates in Singapore. This is equivalent to removing 12.6 million kg of carbon dioxide from the air. Residents in Tengah will enjoy 30% energy savings. Nearly 1,000 households have signed up for the cooling system in the upcoming of Tengah, where some 8,000 Build-To-Order flats have been launched so far (Ng, M. 2020).

Thus far, the implementation of a district cooling network in Singapore is only carried out in new developments. Singapore has yet to implement a district cooling network in completed developments. However, this may change because of a feasibility study done by Temasek and SP Group to transform Tampines into an eco-town by 2025. The study involves 14 buildings in Tampines to utilise a distributed district cooling (DDC) network which is an interconnected centralised cooling system. The DDC in Tampines could potentially achieve a 17% reduction in energy consumption, 18% fall in carbon emissions from both energy savings and refrigerant reduction, and S$4.3 million in annual economic value from energy, equipment replacement, and maintenance cost savings, as well as potential earnings from leasing out freed-up chiller plant space (Temasek, 2021). The owners of seven of those buildings, including CapitaLand and Frasers Property, signed letters of intent with SP to pledge their interest in subscribing to the distributed district cooling network.

Successful implementation of the DDC network in Tampines would be a pathway for many developments that are already built upon to adopt the district cooling network. Therefore, many towns in Singapore will be sustainable in the future and for that reason, district cooling networks will mitigate Singapore’s current UHI effect issue.

References:

ENGIE. (2013, February 11). District heating and cooling systems.

https://www.engie.com/en/businesses/district-heating-cooling-systems

ENGIE. (2019, March 07). ENGIE wins project for the design of District Cooling System in Punggol Digital District in Singapore.  

https://www.engie.com/en/news/project-cooling-system-punggol-digital-district-singapore

Housing & Development Board. (2021, September n.d.). Tengah.

https://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/about-us/history/hdb-towns-your-home/tengah

Ng, M. (2020, October 19). Nearly 1,000 households in Tengah sign up for centralised cooling system.

https://www.spgroup.com.sg/sustainable-energy-solutions/our-low-carbon-solutions/cooling-and-heating

Othman, L. (2016, March 03). World’s biggest underground district cooling network now at Marina Bay.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/plant-underground-district-cooling-network-marina-bay-commissioned

SP Group. (2021, August n.d.). Cooling & Heating.

https://www.spgroup.com.sg/sustainable-energy-solutions/our-low-carbon-solutions/cooling-and-heating

Temasek. (2021, August 19). Bringing Distributed District Cooling to Our Town Centres – A Cool Solution for a Greener Singapore.

https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/news-and-views/news-room/news/2021/distributed-district-cooling-for-a-greener-singapore

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