French firm ENGIE invests $80m in Singapore's district cooling projects

It will also add 170 employees to its local headcount of 1,600.

ENGIE, an energy firm listed in French and Belgian bourses, will invest $80m over the next five years in Singapore to develop its Centre of Expertise for District Cooling and support the development of new district cooling projects in the country and in Asia.

According to an announcement, ENGIE’s latest expansion, supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), will also increase its workforce, which currently stands at 1,600, by another 170 highly skilled employees, mostly engineers. “Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives will provide ENGIE with an opportunity to test new solutions in real cases and to establish one of its main regional development platforms for district cooling systems,” it said.

Moreover, ENGIE will develop and roll out digital solutions and services across Asia-Pacific, from Singapore, to harness real-time data and insights. “This will help customers manage and improve energy efficiency, maximise performance, and create better ambient experiences for their end-users,” the firm added.

The digital initiatives include AVRIL Digital which is a digital platform that can provide initial and predictive analysis to manage efficiency of data centres. This service will be launched in the second quarter of 2018.

ENGIE also aims to launch a digital IoT (Internet of Things) and remote monitoring platforms that can provide real time data reporting and insights on the environmental conditions of critical facilities such as hospitals, hotels or airports.

It also mentioned a ENGIE iBMS which is an integrated building management system providing real-time data on all equipment and condition such as room temperature and quality of air. The firm will also digitise its facility management processes through computerised management solutions.

ENGIE established its presence in Singapore two decades ago. Currently, it operates more than 320 low-carbon urban heating and cooling networks in 20 countries.