Scheme to support industry energy efficiency (EE) efforts and boost recognition for EE practitioners announced at EENP Awards 2018 – where 15 organisations and individuals were commended for helping to lower energy consumption.
Singapore, 11 October 2018 – The National Environment Agency (NEA) and The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) have jointly launched a new scheme to certify engineers for their technical expertise and experience in improving the energy performance of industrial processes, systems and equipment. This will qualify them to conduct Energy Efficiency Opportunities Assessments (EEOAs) for energy-intensive industrial facilities. The scheme builds up a pool of competent engineers to help industrial companies regulated under the Energy Conservation Act (ECA) assess the energy performance of their facilities and processes, and identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvement opportunities.
2 Energy efficiency is one of the key strategies to reduce carbon emissions from the industrial sector, which accounts for about 60 per cent of Singapore’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Through this certification scheme, NEA hopes to build a pipeline of engineers who specialise in industrial energy efficiency to support companies to improve the energy performance of their energy intensive industrial facilities. The EEO Assessor certification scheme was announced by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, at the 8th edition of the Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) Awards.
EEO Assessor Certification Scheme
3 Under the scheme, prospective EEO Assessors will be evaluated by a panel of qualified professionals, appointed by NEA and IES, from industry, academia and the public sector. The panel will assess the applicants’ competencies and experience to lead and conduct EEOAs in accordance with international standards such as ISO 50002- Energy Audits. The IES will manage an online register of these certified EEO Assessors to facilitate the matching of independent assessors to companies seeking external expertise.
4 As EEO Assessors are qualified professionals who have deep expertise in their fields, NEA has worked with the Chartered Engineer Board (CEB) of IES to recognise the expertise of EEO Assessors to be Chartered Engineers under the energy sector. The certification scheme is open for applications and interested engineers can apply at http://eeoa.sg. More details on the scheme can be found in Annex A.
5 “EEO Assessors are engineers who have a unique blend of industrial experience and energy management expertise. They will play a crucial role in helping companies evaluate the energy performance of their processes, systems and equipment, and recommend engineering solutions for energy efficiency improvements. We hope that the certification and recognition scheme will inspire practising engineers, and those aspiring to be one, to build a career in energy efficiency to support Singapore’s journey towards a low-carbon future”, said Dr Khor, who was the guest of honour for the 2018 EENP Awards, held today at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability.
Outstanding achievements of 2018 EENP Award winners
6 The EENP Awards is an important platform to help Singapore companies discover the latest best industry practices, and encourage them to adapt these sound energy management measures in their operations. This year, Dr Khor conferred the Awards to ten companies, two energy managers and three public sector organisations, who have demonstrated commitment to climate action through their energy efficiency and conservation efforts.
7 Among the winners of the EENP Awards 2018 is Er Pandurangan Siva, an energy manager at Asahi Kasei Plastics Singapore Pte Ltd. Er Siva, who won the Award in the “Outstanding Energy Manager of the Year” category, conducted a plant-wide energy audit of the chemical manufacturing plant and pushed for the implementation of the recommendations from the audit, resulting in 16,000 MWh of energy saved – enough energy to power 3,600 four-room HDB flats for a year. Er Siva, who has a Master of Science (Safety, Health and Environmental Technology) and is also a Singapore Certified Energy Manager, plans to apply for the EEO Assessor certification to build upon his professional qualifications.
8 Another EENP Award winner, G-Energy Global, has contributed to improving Singapore’s industrial energy efficiency through their work in helping companies enhance their internal energy management capabilities. Their chilled water system retrofit projects have collectively achieved annual energy savings of about 7,330 MWh – enough electricity to power 1,600 households in Singapore for a year. Moving forward, the energy efficiency experts at G-Energy Global, which was 2018’s “Outstanding Energy Services Provider of the Year”, will be applying for certification as EEO Assessors to assist their clients to achieve further energy and cost savings.
9 Key to the 2018 EENP Award winners’ success was the use of innovative and data-driven strategies. BASF South East Asia Pte Ltd, winner of the “Excellence in Energy Management” category, employs a structured energy management system to track the energy performance of their processes, and the data is frequently analysed against their energy targets. Through this structured approach, they were able to re-design one of their processes to bypass a heating and cooling step with no impact on product quality, resulting in energy savings of about 288,000 kWh.
10 The winner in the “Best Practices” category likewise used innovation to rethink traditional practices. GLOBALFOUNDRIES Pte Ltd embarked on a rigorous engineering evaluation of the use of cold de-ionised water instead of hot de-ionised water for the rinsing of semiconductor wafers in their fabrication process. They subsequently implemented the switch without affecting the functionality and reliability of the end-product, and were able to decommission their diesel-fired boilers. The project resulted in a reduction of 6,590 litres of diesel fired per day, translating to an annual carbon abatement of close to 6,500 tonnes.
11 In addition to thinking out-of-the-box, another factor behind the winners’ outstanding achievements was the harnessing of technology to help them reap energy savings. For example, when rejuvenating the MAS Building, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) incorporated smart energy-saving features into its infrastructure renewal plans, such as smart systems to monitor and regulate energy use, and occupancy-based lighting and ventilation control in toilets. For their efforts, which led to $270,000 worth of energy savings over four years, MAS won the Award in the “Best Energy Efficiency Practices in the Public Sector” category. For the full list of award recipients and their accomplishments, please refer to Annex B & C.
12 “The industrial sector is the largest energy consumer and contributes more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore. Winners of the EENP Awards 2018 serve as excellent models to emulate in reducing our carbon footprint. Collectively, the projects under the “Best Practices” category alone have abated 12 kilo-tonnes of our annual carbon emissions, equivalent to taking 3,700 cars off the road annually. Together with the enhancements to the ECA, the EEO Assessor certification scheme will help raise the standard of energy efficiency in the industrial sector”, said Mr Tan Meng Dui, CEO of NEA.
13 The 2018 EENP Awards ceremony was followed by industrial energy efficiency sharing sessions by the recipients of the EENP Awards, industry leaders, as well as local and overseas EE practitioners. The breakout sessions saw Singapore companies learning from case studies, and about the latest technologies and developments in the energy sector. There was also an exhibition featuring the latest smart solutions for the monitoring of energy usage and identification of opportunities in energy performance improvement. The EENP Awards 2018, together with the industry sharing sessions, attracted more than 400 participants.
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Annex A, B, C