RENEWABLE ENERGY
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT TO PURSUE SUSTAINABLE
INITIATIVES TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS It will u lise renewable energy to power all its opera ons. Keppel Bay Tower will become the first commercial development in Singapore to u lise renewable energy to power all its opera ons, including the func oning of tenants’ offices in the building. Keppel Bay Tower is a Green Mark Pla num building cerfied by the Building and Construc on Authority (BCA). Keppel Land, the owner and operator of Keppel Bay Tower, will be installing an assembly of PV panels, spanning about 400 m2, on the roof of the 18-storey building, as well as on its six-storey podium block. In addi on, Keppel Land, through its electricity retailer, Keppel Electric, will be purchasing Renewable Energy Cer ficates (RECs), for the energy generated from photovoltaic (PV) panels installed in Keppel Offshore & Marine’s yards in Singapore. When completed in 1Q 2020, Keppel Bay Tower’s PV system is expected to generate an energy yield of about 100,000 kWh per annum. Keppel’s latest ini a ve to install PV panels at Keppel Bay Tower reduces the building’s reliance on grid power. Together with the purchase of RECs, it will result in a reduc on of over 2,400 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum. Mr Tan Swee Yiow, CEO, Keppel Land, said, “Keppel is commi ed to sustainability, both as a provider of soluons for sustainable urbanisa on and as a responsible corporate ci zen. We will con nue to take proac ve steps to enhance the environmental performance of our developments to build a more sustainable future for all our stakeholders”. These ini a ves are part of Keppel’s con nued efforts to transform Keppel Bay Tower into Singapore’s first Super Low-Energy High-Rise Exis ng Commercial Building. In 2018, Keppel Land was awarded a grant of about SGD 1.28 million by the Building and Construc on Authority (BCA) to testbed new and emerging technologies which would reduce the building’s energy consump on significantly and improve its energy efficiency by 20%, compared to other Green Mark Pla num buildings, by June 2020. Mr Hugh Lim, CEO, Building and Construc on Authority, said, “We commend Keppel Land for its efforts in playing a part to push the boundaries for environmental sustainability in the Built Environment. The efforts for Keppel Bay Tower demonstrate a good example of how even exis ng large commercial buildings can tap on innova on to achieve Super Low Energy (SLE) status, by combining smart air-condi oning and ligh ng with integrated controls. The reduced energy demand can be met by renewables harnessed onsite and offsite through Keppel Land’s holis c approach”.
“We hope more building owners and industry players will be inspired to set new benchmarks for how we build and operate buildings - new and exis ng - contribu ng to the urgent task of mi ga ng climate change through Super Low Energy Buildings”, he added. Keppel is currently on track to meet its goal of reducing the annual energy consump on of Keppel Bay Tower to 115 kWh/m2 per annum from its ini al consump on of about 145 kWh/m2 per annum, by June 2020. Keppel Bay Tower is also working with tenants to adopt green leases and install energy-efficient LED lamps in their offices at no addi onal capital investments to the tenants, as well as helping them a ain Green Mark cer fica on. Moving ahead, Keppel Land is also ac vely seeking new solu ons to further reduce the building’s energy consumpon to below 100 kWh/m2 per annum, which would result in Keppel Bay Tower being 50% more energy-efficient compared to typical office buildings in Singapore. A leading green developer, Keppel Land has garnered a total of 83 BCA Green Mark Awards, of which 16 are Pla num. The total es mated reduc on in energy consump on from all of Keppel Land’s Green Mark-awarded projects when they are fully completed will be over 200 million kWh per annum. This is in addi on to total annual water savings of about 2 million m3 and annual carbon emission reduc on of almost 90,000 t. Keppel Land is the property arm of Keppel Corpora on, a mul -business company providing solu ons for sustainable urbanisa on.
Sustainability-focused funding Keppel REIT Management Limited (Keppel REIT Management), as Manager of Keppel REIT, has announced that Keppel REIT1 has obtained an unsecured SGD 150 million green loan facility from OCBC Bank. This is Keppel REIT’s second green loan facility, following a SGD 505 million green loan facility obtained in June 2019. This latest green loan facility can be used to finance or re-finance eligible green projects as well as fund the further growth of Keppel REIT’s green building por olio. At the same me, the Manager has also established the Keppel REIT Green Loan Framework, which is in line with the Green Loan Principles (2018) administered by the Loan Market Associaon and the Asia Pacific Loan Market Associa on.
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER February 2020
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