Jurong Island to host Singapore’s largest green data centre park; 10 per cent of land set aside for new energies

The traditionally fossil fuel-reliant Jurong Island is revving its green engines to become more sustainable, with close to 300ha – about 10 per cent of its land, or an area slightly bigger than 400 football fields – set aside for new energies, such as greener fuels.

The industrial island will also host Singapore’s largest low-carbon data centre park, with an additional 20ha of land reserved for this. This is the size of about 25 football fields.

Four years after the energy and chemicals hub launched its 2030 sustainability goals, a number of companies on the island have made some progress in energy efficiency and producing sustainable goods, such as green solvents.

These announcements were made by industrial developer JTC Corporation and the Economic Development Board (EDB) on 27 October, in conjunction with the Singapore International Energy Week.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science & Technology Tan See Leng noted that there has been increasing interest from speciality chemical players to grow their presence in the Republic, driven by growth in regional demand for higher-quality products.

Dr Tan added that Jurong Island will be a global test bed for new energies and low-carbon technologies. These refer to the use of fuels such as ammonia or hydrogen, which do not produce carbon dioxide when burned, and technology like carbon capture.

He said that in 2026, the Republic will launch its 2030 strategy for research, innovation, and enterprise to significantly expand research and development to further decarbonise the power sector and industries.

“All these efforts ensure that Jurong Island continues to be home to great firms, and create meaningful career opportunities in the growing green economy,” he said.

In a separate statement, JTC and EDB said upcoming new energy solutions that will be housed include a hydrogen-ready natural gas power plant, and Singapore’s first project that will use imported ammonia to generate power and refuel ships.

It was announced in early October that Keppel is leading a consortium that aims to import cleaner ammonia fuel and build a power plant to produce up to 65 megawatts (MW) of electricity – which can power over 90,000 four-room Housing Board flats for a year.

The areas set aside for the data centre park and new energies are largely in the southwest and northwest of the island. Some of these parts are still forested.

Around a third of Singapore’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the refining and petrochemicals sector, with more than 100 companies and over 27,000 employees on Jurong Island.

The global petrochemical sector is facing a downcycle, amid oversupply and tightening climate regulations.

“With its integrated ecosystem and strong industry base, Jurong Island is well positioned to be a premier test bed for developing, piloting, and scaling new energies and low-carbon technologies,” said the government agencies.

For Singapore’s largest green data centre park, the roughly 20ha of land is able to provide up to 700MW of power capacity for the facilities

Average data centres require 5MW to 10MW of energy, said the International Energy Agency. Large hyperscale data centres, which are increasingly common, have power demands of 100MW or more.

Operators can leverage the island’s ecosystem, such as shared energy storage infrastructure and utilities, as well as emerging low-carbon energy sources.

Singapore currently has more than 70 data centres.

In 2024, it was announced that Singapore aims to expand its data centre capacity by more than one-third to satisfy rising computing needs amid the age of artificial intelligence.

But newer data centre operators have to increasingly go green, given that the facilities are massive electricity and water guzzlers.

At least 300MW of data centre capacity will be added islandwide in the next few years, with more for operators harnessing green energy. Facilities can do this by opting for energy-efficient equipment, adopting low-carbon fuels like ammonia, and reducing energy used for air-conditioning by safely raising the operating temperature to 26 deg C.

In 2021, a plan was launched to transform Jurong Island into a sustainable energy and chemicals hub, with 2030 targets to raise the production of sustainable goods, ensure that local refineries and crackers are highly energy-efficient, and realise carbon capture.

Giving a midpoint update on the island’s progress so far, JTC and EDB recorded a rise in the sector’s output of sustainable products by 1.4 times the 2019 levels, putting Singapore on track to achieve a 1.5 times increase by 2030.

Examples of sustainable goods include a recyclable food packaging material to be made by Japanese company Kuraray from 2026.

By 2030, the aim is to have Singapore’s refineries and crackers rank within the top quartile of the industry globally for energy efficiency.

They are currently ranked in the top 50 per cent.

Since 2021, EDB has awarded 35 projects from the industry with the Resource Efficiency Grant for Emissions – a scheme that provides funding to manufacturers and data centres to undertake innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions and raise energy efficiency.

Awarded projects span explorations into energy efficiency and new decarbonisation pathways, such as alternative fuels, wastewater biotreatment, as well as carbon capture, utilisation and storage, with many of them taking place on Jurong Island.

The 35 projects from companies including German chemicals manufacturer Evonik, US-based oil giant ExxonMobil, Linde, and Air Liquide are expected to reduce more than 340 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide a year when completed.

This is equivalent to taking 80,000 cars off the road.

Sustainability goals worldwide are driving demand for innovative solutions such as low-carbon coatings and green solvents.

Since 2021, Singapore has seen more than 30 new speciality chemical projects from companies such as Arkema, Singapore-headquartered synthetic latex producer Cariflex, and Kuraray, with many on Jurong Island.

These investments are expected to create more than 1,000 jobs across roles such as manufacturing, innovation, process engineering, and sustainability.

Dr David Broadstock, a partner at economic consultancy The Lantau Group, noted that the authorities’ support in providing energy and environmental solutions on the island without compromising on economic competitiveness is important.

He added that the energy and chemicals sector, among other industries, will remain pollutive for some time to come, possibly even by 2050.

“This is precisely where efforts on Jurong Island can help make a difference, to help ensure that (economically) necessary polluting industries are actively exploring alternative decarbonisation solutions.

“There are limits to how much energy-efficiency improvements can help here,” he added.

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