Two Singapore firms have been praised for their energy-efficiency efforts at an annual renewables competition convened at the ASEAN Energy Awards.
IUT Singapore was the winner this year for the on-grid category while Eco Special Waste Management won the off-grid category.
IUT Singapore won with a project that burns food waste to generate renewable energy, producing electricity to power the plant itself and exporting the excess electricity into Singapore’s power grid.
The burning of food waste helps to reduce the need for landfill space in the small-city state of Singapore and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The plant at Tuas recycles more than half of Singapore’s food waste and is able to process up to 800 tonnes of organic waste per day, generating up to 10MW of electricity.
Eco Special Waste Management winning project extracts thermal energy from the burning process of sewage sludge, and uses the thermal energy to dry the sludge and turn it into fertilisers.
The project, claimed to be the first of its kind in Singapore and the biggest in Southeast Asia, eliminates methane production and reduces CO2 emissions by 100,000 tonnes annually.
U Win Khaing, vice president of Burma Engineering Society and a representative on the board of judges, says: “The two renewable energy projects submitted by Singapore were exemplary due to their innovative concepts of utilising daily wastes such as food waste and sewage for power generation.”
This is the first time that Singapore companies participated and won at the ASEAN Energy Awards – Renewable Energy Project Competition, according to Singapore’s
Energy Market Authority (EMA).
Lawrence Wong, chief executive of EMA, says: “These awards highlight the opportunities available for companies to use Singapore as a site for test-bedding of renewable energy options, and a platform for exports to other countries where conditions are more conducive for the deployment of large-scale renewable energy solutions.”
Another Singapore firm Tampines Grande Building also won the award for best practices for energy efficient buildings under the new and existing category.
Tampines Grande is the first commercial development with the largest and most extensive use of solar PV panels in Singapore.
Forty customised 152Wp amorphous silicon thin-film panels were installed on the building façade to give an output of 6kWp, and two rooftops boost 101kWp of polycrystalline silion PV panels.
Together, the building integrated PV and rooftop PV panels generate 115,000kWh a year of clean energy, and the building expects to achieve a minimum energy efficiency of more than 30% compared to a standard commercial office building.
The companies received their awards at the 28th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting in Da Lat City, Vietnam, on Thursday.
