Sembcorp Expands Energy-From-Waste Capacity In Singapore With A New Steam Production Facility Worth Over S$250M

Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) is pleased to announce that it will be increasing its green energy generation capacity with its largest energy-from-waste plant in Singapore to date. The company will invest over S$250M to build, own and operate a facility capable of producing 140 tonnes per hour of steam using industrial and commercial waste collected by Sembcorp’s solid waste management operations, the leading operator in Singapore. The development of this plant is in line with the company’s drive to offer the best and most competitive solutions to its customers, while helping them reduce their carbon footprint.

To be located in the Sakra area of Jurong Island, the new facility will consist of two boilers capable of producing a combined 140 tonnes per hour of high-pressure process steam. This investment will be funded through a combination of bank borrowings and internal sources. To be completed in early 2016, the facility will offer an economical, environmentally-friendly source of steam to serve the needs of petrochemical manufacturers in the vicinity.

The plant will offer a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with a coal-fired steam plant, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by around 50%. The plant will be fuelled by around 1,000 tonnes of industrial and commercial waste per day, which is roughly 14% of the total tonnage of waste bound for incineration in Singapore every day. The facility strengthens synergies between Sembcorp’s energy business and its solid waste management operations, through the conversion of waste, which would otherwise be sent for disposal, into energy in the form of steam for Sembcorp’s customers.

Said Tang Kin Fei, Group President & CEO of Sembcorp Industries, “This new energy-from-waste plant increases our supply of energy from alternative fuel. It will reduce our cost of energy production on Jurong Island and enable us to provide our customers a competitively-priced, environmentally-friendly source of steam.

“With our investments in energy-from-waste, Sembcorp is also taking the lead in supporting the government’s efforts to promote a greener, more sustainable Jurong Island.”

Added Ng Meng Poh, Sembcorp’s Executive Vice President & Head, Utilities, “This new investment demonstrates Sembcorp’s unceasing focus on offering the best solutions for our customers. It will provide a reliable supply of steam to serve their needs and takes our investment in facilities to serve Jurong Island customers to nearly S$3B. In addition, this facility will also be environmentally-friendly and help our customers to reduce their carbon footprint.”

This facility is Sembcorp’s second energy-from-waste project in Singapore, where the company already owns and operates a steam boiler running on woodchips recovered from construction and demolition waste. With the completion of this latest facility fuelled by industrial and commercial waste, as well as an expansion to the woodchip boiler, Sembcorp will have grown its energy-from-waste capabilities in Singapore by ten-fold in five years to 200 tonnes per hour and met its target of fulfilling one-third of its existing customers’ steam demand using alternative fuel.

In addition to its energy-from-waste plants in Singapore, Sembcorp’s international renewable energy portfolio also includes energy-from-waste, biomass and wind power facilities in the UK and China. In Teesside in the UK, it owns and operates a 35 megawatt wood-fuelled biomass power station, and recently announced the development of a new energy-from-waste facility capable of generating 49 megawatts of gross power or 190 tonnes per hour of steam using municipal and commercial waste. In China, it has wind power assets with a combined capacity of 248 megawatts in Inner Mongolia and Hebei. Put together, Sembcorp’s renewable energy assets comprise around 5% of its global portfolio of power and steam assets.