In the pipeline: heat exchange on Jurong Island

[SINGAPORE] Singapore is rolling out a plan for plants on Jurong Island to share excess heat or steam generated during operations, to boost the petrochemical industry's energy efficiency and competitiveness.

In an interview with BT, Economic Development Board's head of Energy & Chemicals, Eugene Leong, said that this "heat integration" plan is one of the "low-lying fruits" it is now targeting, after recent industry complaints about high energy prices here.

Explaining how it works, he said that when a plant, say plant A, needs some heat or steam, it has to either buy this from a cogeneration supplier or generate this itself. On the other hand, another plant, plant B, may have an excess of this during its operations, and has to either cool it down, or waste it, to get rid of it.