Energy Handbook 2011 - GBR

P o w e r S u m m i t - T h e E n e r g y H a n d b o o k 2 0 1 1
C o u n t r y P r o f i l e : S i n g a p o r e
MTU Asia
The Asia Pacific Region presents one of
the largest opportunities for suppliers
who specialise in decentralised power
plants. With many areas of south-east
Asia underdeveloped and power grids not
reaching rural communities, players such
as rental power companies and diesel
generators have had much success in
growing in the region.
MTU Asia, which is the Asia arm of MTU
Friedrichshafen GmbH, is a world leader
in large diesel engines and complete drive
systems. MTU’s growth in south-east
Asia began 35 years ago when the Asia
operational headquarters was established
in Singapore. Today, MTU Asia has
more than 500 employees working in 30
countries all across Asia Pacific. MTU
specialises in the production and design
of engine sets with capacities of 125–
9,000 kW. With many generators in the
region failing to provide enough electricity
for the population, MTU also provides
custom-made emergency diesel generator
sets for power plants.
Due to Singapore’s central location,
MTU Asia is able to supply its customers
with a variety of engines and products.
While the main engine manufacturing
facility is still located in Germany, MTU
holds enough local stock to allow it to
deliver generators within a few days. To
reduce lead times even further, Hermann
Roehm, Director of MTU Onsite Energy,
expects that local manufacturing facilities
will open soon. MTU Asia uses external
partners to provide various financing
options to its customers. Given that many
projects in the region are required only for
limited periods, MTU has followed other
companies by selling engines to power
rental providers. “Just recently we rented
out our equipment to a huge power
plant, where our generators are now
feeding power into the grid directly, with
requirements anywhere from 5–10 MW
up to 100 –200 MW,” Roehm says.
Renewables
being constrained by its small size and
being geographically ill-suited for many
alternative energy sources like wind,
Singapore attracts rapidly-growing
investment in its renewable energy sector.
Ever since the Singapore government
identified the clean energy sector as one
of strategic importance for the economy
in 2007, it has invested more than S$350
million (US $274 million) into boosting
the growth of the industry. The key to
success has been the country’s ability to
build a strong and encouraging network of
government agencies and consultancies to
help companies both large and small come
to Singapore and set up base there.
One of the leaders in this respect has been
the Sustainable Energy Association of
Singapore (SEAS), which is Singapore’s
sole association for companies working
in the renewable arena. Now with
165 members, SEAS has been helping
companies expand their operations in
Singapore, but not only that. “Most
companies cannot survive if they just
stay in Singapore,” says Kavita Ghandi,
SEAS Executive Director. “We therefore
help them expand outside of Singapore
by doing business intelligence, business
reports and trade missions.”
One such company that has benefited
from SEAS and Singapore’s other
agencies has been WoodHolmes, a small
innovation company from the UK which
helps a variety of industries with their
projects. When CEO Stuart Smith came
to Singapore two years ago to plug into
the renewable scene he found a lot of
support.
“SEAS has been really fantastic in helping
us to establish our business here. The
Ministries themselves were very polite and
welcomed us coming here by giving us
information and time to show us how we
need to do our business,” Smith says.
Solar
The clear leader in Singapore’s drive to
become the clean-tech capital of southeast
Asia has been solar power. With
very low wind speed inhibiting the
effectiveness of large wind farms, one of
the world’s busiest ports rendering tidal
technologies unreasonable, and no rivers
most promise in introducing an alternative
energy source into Singapore’s power
generation mix.
When government policy toward clean
energy changed in 2007, the Economic
Development Board (EDB), which is
charged with developing and growing
Singapore’s industries, embarked on an
ambitious program to boost the solar
power sector.
Since solar power does not carry any
immediate large-scale promise in terms
of generating electricity for domestic
consumption, the major question facing
Singapore was what exactly this small
country could offer the multi-billion-dollar
solar industry.
Utilising its well-established base in
semiconductor and electronics R&D,
Singapore’s government began to attract
large renewable energy companies by
offering them a place to set up their
production and R&D operations. The
challenge, however, was in transferring
the expertise that Singapore had in the
electronics sector to renewable energies,
and then nurturing the appropriate levels
of skill to support it.
When companies such as Renewable
Energy Company (REC) and others started
setting up in Singapore in 2007 and
2008 with the help of EDB, the need for
solar R&D only multiplied. “When these
companies were negotiating with EDB,
one of their main requests was their need
for good and well-trained staff and R&D
on a very applied scheme,” says Joachim
Luther, who now heads up one of Asia’s
largest institutes for solar power, the
Solar Research Institute of Singapore
(SERIS). “Until then Singapore did not
have that much of focus on applicationtype
research, so EDB decided that there
was a need for such an R&D centre and
went ahead in setting up this Institute,”
Professor Luther explains.
Singapore’s ability to craft itself into
a leading power hub in south-east Asia
is seen nowhere more clearly than in
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the renewable energy sector. Despite to power hydro, solar power holds the
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