Award Category: Excellence in Energy Management

Concentrate Manufacturing (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Concentrate Manufacturing (Singapore) Pte Ltd (CMSPL) manufactures concentrates for the production of PepsiCo's beverages throughout Asia Pacific and North America.

PepsiCo is committed to reducing absolute Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 75 per cent by 2030, and is very supportive of any energy efficiency measures which helps in reducing GHG. To this end, CMSPL is committed to improving its energy intensity (kWh per kg) by 8 per cent annually.

In terms of communication, CMSPL presents their Sustainability performance to all employees during the fortnightly Townhall Meetings to generate greater commitment to and awareness of energy efficiency. CMSPL also takes the opportunity to recognise and encourage employees who have contributed Energy Savings Initiatives.

CMSPL is also able to tap on the extensive online library of Sustainability resources (e.g. Best Practices, Sustainability Guidebook, technical checklists and online courses) that PepsiCo has developed. The Best Practices platform also provides a significant advantage to CMSPL and PepsiCo, as it allows any successful energy efficiency initiative to be quickly shared and replicated amongst the hundreds of manufacturing sites.

CMSPL’s energy intensity has reduced from 0.35kWh/kg in 2018 to 0.196kWh/kg in June 2021, effectively reducing their energy intensity by 44 per cent since 2018. One of the first significant energy improvement project was the replacement of 154 conventional metal halide lamps with LED lights in their warehouse and production areas. Through this replacement, CMPSL’s daily electricity consumption for the lights have been reduced from 545 kWh to 135 kWh, resulting in annual energy savings of 150,000 kWh.

Another energy improvement project that CMSPL undertook was the optimisation of their chiller plant, which resulted in annual energy savings of 149,000 kWh. CMSPL optimised their cooling water pumps with additional controls to enable the pumps to ramp up or down as per the plant’s cooling load. CMSPL also installed a wet bulb monitoring station to control the cooling tower fans’ speed. These projects helped CMSPL to achieve an annual cost saving of S$164,500 and an annual carbon abatement of 188 tonnes.

Award Category: Outstanding SME of the Year

Containers Printers Pte Ltd

Containers Printers (CP) provides innovative packaging solutions to leading brands in the Nutrition, Food, and Medical industries, and serves customers globally from their factories in Singapore.

Sustainability has always been part of CP’s holistic approach to business. CP is committed to create a safer and more sustainable world by continuously improving staff’s well-being as well as all aspects of their operations which include the management of energy.

In 2018, CP had set a goal to reduce both their energy consumption by 5 per cent and carbon emissions by 10 per cent by the year 2023. To reach the goal, they have built up a dedicated team from different departments, invested in training, and established new data-driven processes. The Energy Management team monitors the monthly energy performance of the operations and uses advanced analytics techniques on the data to identify anomalies and potential synergies. Additionally, the team works closely with the Operations teams to design and/or implement more energy-efficient production plans. Till date, CP has reduced 4 per cent of their energy consumption.

To establish an energy efficiency culture within the company, various internal communications channels have been developed to keep staff informed of the company’s ongoing initiatives as well to track their progression. Such channels include email updates, posts to internal TV screens, and in-person updates to all heads of departments. Staff are encouraged to switch off lights and air-cons when not in use, and to set air-con temperature at 25°C or higher. At the operations site, machines are shut down instead of running on standby mode over the weekends and on public holidays.

CP also developed staff capabilities by sending them to energy efficiency courses, including the Singapore Certified Energy Manager (SCEM), Carbon 101, and compressed air system optimization courses.

In terms of energy improvement projects, CP tapped on NEA’s Energy Efficiency Fund (E2F) for two retrofitting projects in 2020, namely:

(i) Replacement of fixed-speed to a variable speed air compressor – which reduced energy usage of the compressor by 49 per cent (~560,000kWh of annual energy savings)

(ii) Replacement of 2,300 fluorescent tubes with LED lights – which reduced approximately 51 per cent of energy usage (~150,000kWh of annual energy savings)

CP also installed solar panels on their factory rooftops in 2019. This project is currently providing 20 per cent of CP’s electricity needs. By switching to cleaner energy, the company’s carbon footprint has come down by 800 tonnes/year, equivalent to planting 20,000 trees.

Award Category: Best Practices

CCD (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Project Title: Allyl Alcohol Plant Heat Integration Project

CCD (Singapore) Pte Ltd is a petrochemical company which produces and supplies chemical products around the globe.

This project involved the installation of 2 heat exchangers to recover heat from the reaction zone of the Allyl Alcohol (AAL) process and use it to heat up the distillation zone.

The chemical reaction involved in the AAL process is exothermic, resulting in high energy content in the reactor output which is considered a good grade heating source. On the other hand, the AAL plant is designed with distillation units, which are operated with steam, to recover raw material and purify product.

CCD conducted a study on the possibility of heat integration and found that the rejected heat at the reactor output could be used by the distillation zone to reduce steam consumption. Their feasibility study also indicated that the payback period of this project would be less than one year.

After addressing quality, environmental and process safety risks pertaining to scope modification, CCD proceeded with the engineering design for this project in 2018. CCD learnt from the experience of its overseas sister plant’s implementation of a similar project and planned for pre-emptive measures to mitigate potential issues. The project was completed and commissioned on 12 November 2019.

The project reduced CCD’s overall energy consumption, achieving steam energy savings of 148 TJ/year and carbon abatement of 19,000 tonnes/year.

Award Category: Best Practices (Honourable Mention)

Afton Chemical Asia Pte Ltd

Project Title: Plant Air Compressor Energy Reduction

Afton Chemical is a global specialty chemical additives company which develops additives for fuels, driveline fluids, engine oils and industrial lubricants.

The Afton Chemical Additive Manufacturing Facility utilises a batch manufacturing production process. Afton Chemical noticed that their air compressor energy consumption was high after analysing plant production patterns - their three compressors were running most of the time even when plant air demand was low. They realised that they had the flexibility of running the compressors in different sequences.

Afton Chemical tuned the compressor capacity controls with help of their OEM team and used surge line modelling to calculate a varying throttle limit for the compressor. They found that changing the throttle limit with last stage pressure proved useful to prevent surges in situations where the discharge pressure varied. The compressor sequence was also adjusted to adapt the header pressure changes and coasting time (i.e. time taken to slow down after every shutdown sequence before starting back). Afton Chemical also found that, after the adjustments, one single compressor (with the occasional starting of the second compressor to maintain header pressure) was sufficient to meet the instrument air demand. Before the adjustment, two compressors were needed and operated most of the time.

The project was implemented in September 2018. The estimated energy consumption for all compressors in 2018 was 19.47 TJ, while the estimated energy consumption for all compressors in year 2019 was 12.80 TJ. The successful implementation of this project achieved actual energy savings of 6.67 TJ, which constitutes 3.19 per cent energy savings at the facility level and actual cost savings amounting to S$180,500.

ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd Singapore Chemical Plant

Project Title: Olefins Compressors Surge Margin Optimization

The Singapore Chemical Plant is ExxonMobil’s largest integrated petrochemical complex in the world. It employs state-of-art chemical processing technologies to make high performance petrochemicals used in everyday life, while leveraging its Global Energy Management System to run its operations energy efficiently.

In 2020, the team decided to focus on turndown optimisation as energy efficiency typically lowers under such operational conditions. One of the potential opportunities identified was reducing the surge margin of gas compressors during low production rates, to cut back on energy loss. However, there was a concern that reduction in the surge margin might increase the risk of surge in the compressors, which could then lead to damage of the internals of said equipment.

The team worked closely with the third-party machine manufacturer to successfully reduce the surge margin by 3 per cent without impacting the machine operating conditions. This smaller surge margin resulted in the closing down of both compressors’ kickback valves, which would normally be open at the intended surge margin setting during turndown operations. Closing both compressors’ kickback valves reduced recycling of gas from discharge to suction of the compressors and lowered the steam consumption use by the compressor turbines.

This initiative has delivered energy savings of 104 TJ/year. The CO2 savings as a result of lowered steam consumption and consequently lesser fuel gas consumed translates to approximately 35,000 trees planted.

Senoko Energy Pte Ltd

Project Title: GT Upgrade Package for Senoko CCP6 & CCP7

Senoko Energy has been a pioneer in power generation and energy solutions since 1977.

Senoko Energy embarked on a Gas Turbine (GT) Upgrade project by Mitsubishi Power in 2020 for its Combined Cycle Plants 6 & 7 (CCP6 & CCP7). It comprised hardware replacement with some rows of turbine blades and vanes upgraded using new cooling technologies and advanced materials developed for the newest type of GTs. By reducing the quantity of cooling air required, the amount of combustion air available is increased, resulting in an improvement in CCP performance.

Senoko CCP6 & 7 GT upgrade packages were successfully implemented and achieved fuel energy savings of 267 TJ/year (137 TJ/year for CCP6 and 130 TJ/year for CCP7), which is equivalent to the emissions produced by 4,500 cars each year.

These energy efficiency improvements helped raise Senoko CCP6 & 7 competitiveness in Singapore electricity generation market, and contributed towards reduced carbon emissions in the industry.

Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited

Project Title: Innovative Approach to Improve Waste Heat Boiler’s (WHB) Thermal Efficiency

Established in 1977, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited (PCS) is a pioneer petrochemical plant in Southeast Asia, providing basic feedstock to polymer and chemical industries in Singapore and Asia.

A new Economiser section was installed at an existing empty space (catered for future installation of DeNOx unit) within the Waste Heat Boiler (WHB) fire box. This enabled additional waste heat recovery of hot exiting flue gas for preheating incoming ultra-high pressure boiler feed water. The additional waste heat recovery lowered the overall fuel consumption of the WHB and thus improved its thermal efficiency.

This project was identified through PCS’s constant and continual effort in capturing any potential energy improvement opportunities that were practical, technically feasible and economically viable. In conjunction to the installation of the new Economiser section, the Evaporator section was also replaced due to long service life.

The successful implementation of this project achieved 120 TJ annual energy savings with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 9,300 tonnes per year. Thermal efficiency has been increased by 3 per cent due to lesser fuel consumption at the WHB.

Award Category: Outstanding Energy Services Provider of the Year

Siemens Pte Ltd

Siemens is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport and healthcare. Siemens Pte Ltd is an accredited Energy Services Companies in Singapore and has been providing energy efficiency consultancy to its customers in buildings and industries for more than 10 years.

With a comprehensive offering of automation technology, industrial control, and drive technology as well as industrial software, Siemens equips enterprises with what they need over their value chain, tailored for their market and needs. Siemens uses an energy analytic tool (Energy Manager Pro) to track energy consumption and improve the energy efficiency of the plants through data analytics. Furthermore, Siemens is able to significantly reduce energy and/or wastewater costs for manufacturing companies via tools such as the Siemens Variable Frequency Drive, energy efficient motors and Siemens Automation Products.

Knowing that CAPEX cost is the major hurdle for most implementation decisions, Siemens rolled out the Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). EPC is a contract where customers get to enjoy zero upfront cost while co-sharing the guaranteed the energy savings with Siemens. Coupled with the Government grants such as NEA’s Energy Efficiency Grants and EDB’s Resource Efficiency Grants, customers’ competitive strengths are increased.

Apart from providing energy-efficient products and solutions, Siemens has been actively presenting at seminars/conferences to further inspire others to contribute to environmental protection. For example, Siemens presented at NEA’s National Energy Efficiency Conference 2019 and had conducted an energy efficiency presentation for the Food Manufacturer Energy Efficiency Committee.

Siemens has been actively involved in conducting detailed energy audits for industrial customers for many years. The energy saving potential identified for these detailed energy audits amount to electrical savings of 7,800 MWh and gas savings of 8500 mmBTU per annum, and a return of investment of 3 years. Many of the recommendations have been accepted and implemented by customers.

The most recent completed energy improvement project includes the improvement of a chiller plant, which resulted in 6,225 MWh annual energy savings.

Award Category: Outstanding Energy Services Provider of the Year (Honourable Mention)

Sunseap Solutions Pte Ltd

Sunseap Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sunseap Group, enables clients to achieve sustainability goals with comprehensive energy efficiency solutions and clean energy consultancy services. These include Energy Performance Contracting for Lighting and ACMV systems, Environmental Sustainability Design (ESD) services, green roofs and Energy Storage Systems (ESS).

They believe strongly in the following values:

A. Encourage adoption by empowering clients with useful and relevant data to make informed decisions:

Sunseap Solutions makes it feasible for clients to adopt energy efficiency solution(s) by providing tangible cost savings, or zero capex options via Energy Performance Contracting while reducing carbon emissions; consultations are done with no sales obligations. Clients know what to expect prior to adoption.

B. Ensure delivery of trusted energy efficiency solutions with positive impacts in external environment:

Sunseap Solutions offers one-stop energy efficiency solutions, making it convenient for clients to grow with them. Their close relationships with clients allow them to lean in actively on their requirements and respond promptly with the first-hand feedback. Sunseap also works closely with the IHLs and provide useful internship opportunities for students to offer good industry knowledge and experience for a skilled energy efficiency workforce.

C. Establish relevancy in the industry, to always bring applicable resources, incentives, and innovative solutions to clients:

Sunseap Solutions actively invests in R&D, innovation and smart technologies to disrupt the market. This contributed to their endeavours for excellence in the provision of their product & services and upkeeping energy management standards.

Internally, Sunseap conducts regular thinktank sessions and internal knowledge sharing sessions to promote creativity as well as for the transfer of expertise within the company. Additionally, Sunseap conducts industry talks, webinars and participate in forums regularly to advocate thought leadership. Example of such involvement includes the presentation in World Bank Conference in 2019.

Till date, Sunseap Solutions has helped 100 per cent of their clients improve their energy efficiency, achieved cost savings, and reduced more than 1,584 tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to removing 337 cars from the roads in a short span of two years. Clients include industrial and commercial facilities from public and private sectors such as Collins Aerospace, StorHub, and SingPost, with the highest cost savings achieved at a record of over S$22,000/month. The team also successfully installed Singapore’s first utility-scale ESS and has operationalised the system in 2021.

Award Category: Best Energy Efficiency Practices in the Public Sector (Organisation)

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), established in 1963, is one of Singapore’s leading institutions of higher learning with over 13,000 enrolled students and an alumni network of more than 160,000.

As part of NP’s energy policy, NP champions initiatives using innovative energy solutions. NP also takes steps to encourage energy conservation and reduce greenhouse gas emission. For instance, NP has combined two or more buildings to share a chiller plant room, introduced more natural ventilated spaces and adopted the use of solar panels.

NP targets to attain ECO-Office certifications for all 27 offices, and at least Green Mark (Gold Plus) certifications for 40 buildings in NP by end 2022. NP is also doing a feasibility study, with an aim to achieve Green Mark Platinum certification for NP’s Convention Centre.

To help raise energy efficiency awareness and competency, NP invests in the training of their staff. The team in the Estate, Eco & Safety (EES) Office, who drives the various initiatives, has attained key certifications such as SCEM (Singapore Certified Energy Manager), GMAP (Green Mark Accredited Professional) and even a Specialist Diploma in Energy Management & Sustainable Design.

NP regularly engages with the facilities team and collaborates with stakeholders to review and implement new technologies and ideas.

• NP implemented two mini District Cooling Systems within campus
  

•  An entire plant room at NP’s School of Business and Accountancy building was removed so that energy usage in the building could be shared with the adjacent Block 73, a mixed-use building. This significantly reduced NP’s energy consumption by 10 per cent. Both buildings subsequently obtained Green Mark Certification – Gold Plus for Block 72 and Platinum for Block 73.
• To optimise the usage of the chiller plant system at the central mixed-use building Block 51, it was connected to a total of 4 buildings through a network of chilled water pipes.

• NP encourages ground-up initiatives to drive its sustainability goals
  

As an environmentally responsible educational institution advocating environmental stewardship, NP recognises staff who find creative productivity solutions to shape a green campus. This is done through the organisation-led Smarter Perks Programme which encourages and rewards the sharing of innovative ideas which have an impact on the campus.

• NP sets itself goals aligned with the public sector targets

Using the average energy use intensity (kWh/m2) from 2018 to 2020 as a baseline, NP’s goal is to achieve minimum targets of 10 per cent reduction in energy consumption and a 5 per cent reduction in carbon emission by 2030, which is in line with the public sector targets under the GreenGov.SG initiative. With a list of energy-saving projects in the pipeline, NP is confident that it can meet these targets.

Singapore Management University

A premier university in Asia, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world-class research and distinguished teaching.

SMU strongly supports Energy Management as part of Sustainable Living, a key pillar of the SMU 2025 strategic plan. Key sustainability and energy management targets are set in consultation with the SMU management. From the ground-up, solutions and ideation are encouraged as part of a collaborative process that involves concerted efforts by the SMU community and partners.

Resources and funds are set aside every year for staff to broaden their knowledge and skillsets through seminars, trade shows and training programmes. Efforts are made to work with members of the SMU community to increase their awareness of energy efficiency and, more importantly, to take concrete actions.

SMU is forthcoming in exploring innovative technologies, as part of the University’s drive to raise its sustainability bar higher. For example, under the Campus Chiller Replacement Project, SMU adopted new high-efficiency chillers that attained a remarkable performance of reducing the Coefficient of Performance from 0.8kW/RT to 0.54kW/RT, by utilising emerging technologies such as multiple variable speed MagLev oil-free compressors.

SMU has been testing the enhanced Passive Displacement Cooling (ePDC) prototype systems on campus. The efforts culminated in the mass deployment of the first 100 per cent ePDC-cooled system at SMU’s Prinsep Street Residences, a student hostel facility.

Learnings from these projects helped to enhance design and performance of other projects, such as the recently built SMU Connexion - the first net-zero energy building in the city centre. The building’s energy model demanded the adoption of unconventional technological solutions so that its operations can be highly energy efficient. For instance, its cooling design uses the ePDC system with localised fresh air fans to keep a substantial amount of the building’s energy load at bay. Based on computer simulations, ePDC has demonstrated savings of up to 91 per cent in fan distribution energy, which was verified against the actual building data. A sophisticated Programmable Logic Controller based Building Management System controls and monitors all the mechanical and electrical systems in the building, providing field data that assists the facilities team to schedule both planned and preventative maintenance to optimise the operation of the building as per the original design intent. The same energy design concepts are also being used in the construction of a building on SMU campus.

SMU also places a significant emphasis on harnessing renewable energy on campus. This led to the deployment of the largest solar farm in the city centre at 1.47MWp capacity, which meets 7 per cent of SMU’s energy needs. The remaining 93 per cent is obtained as green energy from sustainable sources.

Award Category: Best Energy Efficiency Practices in the Public Sector (Individual)

Loh Wai Soong – JTC

Mr Loh creates value for both JTC and its customers, through the design, operations and test-bedding of innovative solutions in the areas of energy/water conservation and environmental sustainability.

Mr Loh is part of JTC Sustainability Department involved in developing, overseeing and executing the JTC green initiatives, which covers sustainability in design, construction, procurement, operations and maintenance, as well as involvement of JTC’s tenants / lessees as a holistic effort in reducing carbon footprint. He engages tenants and encourages adoption of more efficient air conditioning systems by demonstrating the cost benefits through life cycle cost analysis. To decarbonize the industry, he supports JTC’s customers, especially SMEs, in their decarbonization journey through upgrading/adoption of more energy efficiency technologies in their offices/operations/manufacturing processes. He is also involved in optimising operations workstream to track and monitor operational performance and to devise suitable strategies to further optimize resource efficiency.

Mr Loh has been involved in the design and equipment selection to ensure optimal efficiency for the chilled water system at JTC's development as well as for JTC's customers. For instance, he was involved in redesigning the air-conditioning system for Jurong Town Hall building, the evaluation of both technical and cost benefits to replace the existing Variable Refrigerant Flow system to water-cooled chilled water system with efficiency improvement from >1kW/RT to 0.65 kW/RT. The project demonstrated real impact of energy efficiency improvement of at least 35 per cent, and these retrofitting works were completed in year 2017.

He is also involved in exploratory works such as an on-going pilot project in collaboration with Civil Service College to optimise air-conditioning system. This pilot involves predictive controls that takes buildings and weather data to predict the optimal controls for the air-conditioning, lightings, and motorised window blinds for building performance.

Nagarajan Ratha – JTC

A senior mechanical engineer in JTC’s Engineering Services Department which supports the design and operations of JTC buildings, Mr Nagarajan champions energy efficient building services. He is part of an Operations Optimisation workgroup in JTC.

His passion for energy efficiency and good eye for analytical details have resulted in a 20 per cent improvement of chilled water plant energy efficiency at JTC Chemicals Hub @ Tuas South, from 0.73 kW/RT to 0.58 kW/RT. This provides up to 74,000 kWh/year in energy savings and up to 31 tonnes CO2/year reduction. Besides waterside projects, he also looks at airside optimisation, where he studied and successfully raised the space temperature to 25°C for JTC Summit. He goes beyond the energy efficiency projects to cultivate an energy-conscious and continuous-monitoring culture in his workplace. He has developed continuous plant performance tracking and automated analytical tools.

Mr Nagarajan actively involves the stakeholders in his various energy conservation measures (ECMs). He engages staff in office and industrials customers before conducting the respective ECMs, to explain the rationale behind the energy efficiency improvements and seek their buy-in. It is encouraging to see many stakeholders supporting the ECMs and lending their support in improving their carbon footprint.