On 31 July 2019, Finnish energy giant Neste held a foundation stone ceremony to mark the expansion of its facility in Tuas, which will increase renewable fuel output from 1 million tonnes per year to 2.3 million. The expansion follows a S$2.1 billion investment by the company, and will make Singapore the site of Neste’s largest renewable products plant.
Expected to be ready in the first half of 2022, the expanded facility will employ more than 100 new local professionals and account for about half Neste’s global production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes annually. It will also become Neste’s first site to produce renewable jet fuel at a commercial scale, as the company expands its product slate beyond renewable diesel.
Mr Peter Vanacker, Neste President and Chief Executive, said the company is also working towards using lower-quality waste and residues in its process of creating renewable products. “We are exploring extensively with other companies and other industries to identify these streams, make them commercially viable, and utilise them to replace fossils,” he said.
Senior Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Guest-of-Honour at the foundation stone ceremony, said Neste’s plans come amid a critical need for innovations to tackle climate change. “Without innovations to create efficient, affordable and scalable forms of clean energy, the cost to economies and societies of transiting to clean energy will be far higher,” Mr Tharman said. “It will then be far more difficult to secure the necessary political commitment in any democracy to make that transition.”
