Intent and Approach Towards Criteria for New Energy Efficiency Grant for SMEs

11 Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Minister for Trade and Industry with regards to the criteria for the new Energy Efficiency Grant for SMEs (a) what is the Ministry's intent and approach towards it; and (b) whether the Ministry plans to encourage more companies to be more energy-efficient at a systems level, that is, a total solution towards gaining energy efficiency by tiering the grants or focusing on specific capital investments, in order to gain momentum first.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Energy Efficiency Grant supports and encourages local SMEs in the food services, food manufacturing and retail sectors to invest in energy-efficient equipment in six categories: namely LED lighting, air-conditioners, cooking hobs, refrigerators, water heaters and clothes dryers.

We have focused on these six categories of equipment because they tend to be energy intensive and are used for long hours. The types of equipment supported under each category are selected based on technologies that have been identified as energy-efficient or have high-efficiency ratings, under NEA's Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme.

I want to assure the Members that in the coming months, EnterpriseSG (ESG) will be working very closely with the industry, seeking industry feedback on the Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) as part of our ongoing engagements with the industry, Trade Associations and Chambers.

We certainly encourage companies to adopt a "total solution" approach towards energy efficiency, as suggested by the Member. NEA's Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF) provides support for companies in the manufacturing sector, including the integration of resource-efficient designs into new facilities and the installation of energy management information systems. In addition, SMEs can also tap on affordable energy assessments that is offered by the Energy Efficiency Technology Centre (EETC), which is a collaboration between NEA and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), to help them make informed decisions on the kind of measures to take to improve their energy efficiency.

We welcome suggestions on how we can further help our SMEs become more energy efficient. Together, we can make the Singapore economy more sustainable.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Edward Chia.

Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Madam. I would like to ask the Minister of State if MTI is also looking at spurring adoption of energy-efficient measures upstream, at a more system level besides focusing on equipment.

In addition, food services businesses use a wide range of equipment and some of them could be very energy intensive. Will MTI consider widening the range of equipment considered, as this could be helpful to many businesses and reduce potential equipment wastage?

Ms Low Yen Ling: I want to thank the Member, Mr Edward Chia, for his two supplementary questions. And I want to assure him that MTI and ESG are very committed to work with the other Ministries and agencies to support our SMEs, to make the green transformation at the system level for those who are prepared to do so. But we also recognise that there are some SMEs who need to take the first baby steps and this is why we have the Energy Efficiency Grant. The EEG is one of the latest schemes amongst the suite of many other measures – between MTI, MSE, NEA and so on – we have in place to support our businesses to become more energy-efficient.

I want to assure him that we are committed to help our SMEs in their sustainability journey. And that is why, over the past few years, in particular, we have rolled out many schemes and measures that supports our SMEs to make the green transformation at system level, be it acquiring expertise, skills, technology or even capability.

So, for example, for SMEs that are building owners, they will be able to apply for the BCA's Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings 2.0 (GMIS-EB 2.0), because this provides building owners, including SMEs, with co-funding support of up to 50% to help them to retrofit and to help them raise the energy performance of their building. So, we have that for SMEs that are prepared to go upstream to really embark on their sustainability journey at the system level.

Other than that, for our industrial SMEs, if they are keen to also go upstream and make a system level green transformation and they do not quite know what to do, they can approach EETC. This is a collaboration between NEA and one of our Autonomous University (AU), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). So, what can they do for the SMEs? They will help them provide energy audits, because you need to start with knowing how much energy you are consuming, the whole of the organisation, your production lines and so on. They will also help SMEs build up their local energy efficiency capabilities. And if the SME has Research Scientist Engineers (RSE), they can also work in tandem with them to upskill their engineers and practitioners in energy efficiency.

On the Member's second question about why the six, can we go beyond the six categories? Allow me to take a step back and share why the three sectors, and then, why these six categories? In MTI and ESG, we have been working very closely with our industries, with our SMEs, across all sectors and we know that in the last nine months, it has been difficult, in particular, our SMEs in the food services, food manufacturing and the retail sectors. We know that they tend to have a larger electricity component in their overall business costs. So, we want to help them to see how to manage that and become more competitive and bring the business costs down.

This is why, we are going to roll out the Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG), the SMEs in these three sectors can apply for the EEG starting 1 September 2022 to 31 March 2023. Now, this grant will allow the SMEs in these three sectors to obtain a support of up to 70% to adopt energy efficiency equipment in the pre-approved categories that I have mentioned. Why pre-approved? Because we work very closely with NEA's licensing department to pre-approve the equipment, so that the SME applicants will be able to adopt this energy efficient appliances and equipment readily, very quickly and easily as well.

Let me share with you how we work with NEA to qualify the equipment. Essentially, these six categories are identified based on two key considerations. Number one, what would be the energy efficient technologies behind, whether it is the cooker, hob, refrigerators and so on. And the other one will be based on the High Efficiency Rating by NEA's mandatory energy labelling scheme. I want to assure the Member that, for any SME clients that have other equipment and would like to apply, the applicants may suggest other kinds of equipment or even technology within this six supportable categories that has higher or similar level of energy efficiency. We would like to invite them to make the submission to apply for the review and we certainly will evaluate accordingly.

Rest assured that MTI, ESG, in fact, together with EMA, as well as our colleagues in NEA and MSE, we are very committed to supporting our SMEs across various sectors to embark on their sustainability journey, be it at the system level, or be it taking the first few steps by adopting energy efficient equipment.