Singapore shone at the annual Asean Energy Awards in Vietnam yesterday, winning five awards, four of which clinched top honours in their categories.
Home-grown firm Eco Special Waste Management, which won the top prize in the Renewable Energy Project off-grid category, impressed judges with its Tuas sludge incineration plant - a first in Singapore and also in South-east Asia.
The plant, which began operations last year and cost $35 million to build, burns sewage sludge from Singapore’s water reclamation plants as fuel, which produces thermal energy that is recaptured to dry the sludge and turn it into a fertiliser.
The process drastically reduces Singapore’s daily sludge waste of more than 500 tonnes from going into a landfill, eliminates methane production and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 100,000 tonnes annually.
Eco’s director of business development Danny Tay told The Straits Times the firm was ‘glad to receive recognition for its work’, and that it was also in the final stages of getting approval from the United Nations to earn carbon credits for the plant.
If approved, it will be Singapore’s second carbon credit-generating project after mainboard-listed EcoWise’s plant, which converts Singapore’s wood and horticultural waste into energy.
IUT Singapore also clinched the top award in the on-grid category for its project, which bio-digests food waste to generate renewable energy. This is used to power the plant itself and the excess electricity is exported to Singapore’s power grid, hence the term ‘on-grid’.
Property developer City Developments won in the Best Practices for Energy Efficient Buildings category for its green office building Tampines Grande, which uses a combination of covered walkways, landscaping and plants to reduce the amount of energy needed to cool the building, which also boasts solar panels.
It also won the top prize in the retrofitted category for Fuji Xerox Towers, while the People’s Association was second runner-up in the new and existing buildings category for its new energy-efficient headquarters in King George’s Avenue.
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, who attended the awards ceremony yesterday at the 28th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting in Dalat City, Vietnam, commended the efforts of the companies.
‘These awards are a testament to the winning companies’ contributions to more energy-efficient buildings and innovative renewable energy solutions. We look forward to more of such companies as Singapore works to become a smart-energy economy,’ he said.
The Asean Energy Awards, held annually since 2004, attracted 36 entries across member states this year.
Myanmar judge Win Khaing, vice-president of Myanmar Engineering Society, said the two renewable-energy projects submitted by Singapore were ‘exemplary due to their innovative concepts of utilising daily waste, such as food waste and sewage, for power generation’.
