Pharmaceutical firm Takeda’s energy-positive building is 1 of 7 in S’pore given green accolade
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When Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda first broke ground on this building two years ago, it was the company’s first “zero energy” building.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
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Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda on Thursday raised the bar for sustainability in the biotech manufacturing sector, with one of its buildings now being able to produce more renewable energy than it consumes, making it energy-positive.
Its manufacturing support building, one of its two buildings at its Woodlands manufacturing site, is the only one in its global suite and is one of seven buildings here that have been awarded the Green Mark Platinum Positive Energy accolade in Singapore.
The Keppel Infrastructure @ Changi building, which houses an intelligent operations control centre and energy transition innovation centre, achieved the same award in July 2022, and the National University of Singapore’s School of Design and Environment 4 achieved it in June 2022.
The award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) recognises a building’s ability to generate at least 115 per cent of its energy consumption from renewable energy on-site.
The building, among other things, must also demonstrate best practices in other sustainability outcomes, such as climate resilience.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, who attended the launch of the building on Thursday, noted that when Takeda first broke ground on this building two years ago, it was the company’s first “zero energy” building.
But it has now topped its own achievement and gone further to become an energy-positive building, she added.
The building has more than 660 solar photovoltaic panels covering an area of 1,600 sq m which generate between 30MW and 40MW of electricity each month, said the company.
About 15 per cent of this is saved on average, and will help to power its production plant, which is also located on-site in Woodlands. The production plant consumes an average of 510 megawatt-hours of electricity a month.
Ms Fu noted that the building facade has also been designed to reduce heat gain to the building. A hybrid cooling system with air-conditioners, ceiling fans and thermal diffusers helps to optimise energy usage and improve air circulation and ventilation.
Takeda has 650 employees in Singapore.
Asked if there are any plans to convert the rest of its buildings to net-zero or energy-positive ones, the company said that the Woodlands site will serve as a blueprint for future site operations.
As to how it went from a net-zero building to an energy-positive one, a company spokesman said that this was the result of innovation, coming up with new ideas with its external partners, as well as automation and digitalisation – which provided it access to the amount of energy the building produces and consumes.
Ms Fu said that companies like Takeda play an important role in the ongoing fight against climate change, especially with increasing evidence and data pointing to the fact that temperatures have been on the rise, and that countries must act immediately.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu at the launch of Takeda Platinum Positive Energy Building grand opening.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Senior vice-president and head of healthcare at the Singapore Economic Development Board Goh Wan Yee said that achieving positive energy sets a “new precedent and standard” for Singapore’s biopharmaceutical industry, and is testament to the ecosystem’s capabilities to support companies to go beyond net zero and contribute towards Singapore’s sustainability targets.
Takeda’s global manufacturing and supply officer Thomas Wozniewski said: “The inauguration of our first positive-energy building is another milestone demonstrating how Takeda delivers on its commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in our own operations before 2035.”
The company said that it has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, which includes reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from its entire value chain, extending beyond its business operations, including shipping, research and development, as well as product packaging.
It is also investing in renewable energy and carbon offset projects to meet this goal.
As at 2021, Takeda has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent compared with its baseline year of 2015.
