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Jurong Island is set to be transformed into a sustainable energy and chemicals park.
Jurong Island is set to become a “living” test bed for sustainable solutions, as the island transforms into a sustainable energy and chemicals park.
This comes after JTC announced two innovation calls to come up with solutions to reduce carbon footprint and boost the circular economy, reported Channel News Asia (CNA).
Known as the Jurong Island Innovation Challenge, the first aims to crowdsource innovative ideas from startups as well as small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to enhance the circularity and sustainability of resources.
Participating in the call are industry players like Shell, Chevron Oronite and Singapore LNG Corporation. These companies will come together to put forth 10 challenge statements, which cover four key themes – energy efficiency, water management, emission reduction and chemical waste management.
SMEs that submit proposals will have opportunities to work with big corporates as well as gain funding support for the development of their solutions, revealed JTC.
Under the enterprise track, qualifying SMEs and startups can tap on the Enterprise Development Grant of ESG. The grant could support up to 80% of the development cost of the qualifying solution.
Solution providers of selected challenge statements will also get grant support of up to $2 million under the National Innovation Challenge for the development of the solution and industry adoption.
“Through this innovation call, startups and SMEs will have the opportunity to showcase their capabilities in addressing real-world circularity challenges, and work with prominent industry players to develop and testbed solutions for wider deployment eventually,” said Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive Officer of ESG, as quoted by CNA.
“We hope that such pilot projects help build up the track records of our startups and SMEs, and enable them to seize more opportunities in the green economy both locally and globally.”
Meanwhile, the second innovation call, which is a request for proposal, will be launched in October.
It will focus on test-bedding renewable energy as well as energy storage systems like high-efficiency solar panels and solar deployment on pipe racks and storage tanks.
These innovation calls follow a JTC-led circular economy study which identified opportunities within the areas of water recycling and recovery, clean energy use, as well as the sustainable recovery and treatment of chemical waste.
The study was launched in 2019 and involved 51 companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, which shared data on water, chemical and energy waste. They also identified potential synergies to reducing resource use at the system-level.
The Jurong Island Circular Economy (JICE) study found, among others, that there was room for greater collaboration in new technology exploration and the use of cleaner energy.
The study also underscored opportunities for improving water recycling and recovery. Other opportunities include developing more sustainable waste recovery and chemical waste treatment solutions.
However, it acknowledged that implementing such solutions comes with challenges since some technologies are yet to reach maturity, or may be energy-intensive.
Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said JTC’s innovation calls will help better address these issues.
“For our sustainability efforts to really take off, we need go much further. Our industries must transform and achieve breakthroughs in carbon and energy efficiency and we must also do more with what we have,” he said as quoted by CNA.
“Our hope is that the JICE study and innovation calls will help catalyse new ideas, underscore how our industrial estates can be a living testbed for new solutions that could serve as engines of growth for the future, and give new impetus for our energy and chemicals sector to enhance its competitiveness and produce sustainably for the world.”
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg.
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