World's largest renewable diesel plant opened in Singapore
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Finland's top oil refiner Neste Oil officially inaugurated the world's largest renewable diesel plant in Singapore on Tuesday.
The Tuas South plant in western Singapore was built at a cost of 550 million euros (769.1 million U.S. dollars). With an annual capacity of 800,000 metric tons, it is now the largest in the world, the company said.
"I think renewable energy will account for some 15 percent of the global energy consumption in 2030," said Matti Lievonen, president and chief executive officer of Neste Oil.
The plant uses feedstock such as palm oil and side stream products of palm oil production from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as waste animal fat from Australia and New Zealand. The final product traffic fuel is sold mainly in Europe.
The world energy demand is expected to increase by 25 percent over the next 20 years, said Teo Chee Hean, deputy prime minister and minister for defense of Singapore.
Europe has made it mandatory to have 10 percent of its energy supplied by renewable energy by 2020. Some countries in North America have also set specific targets.
Asia is now behind the renewable energy market leaders but countries in the region are also trying to catch up with the global trend. South Korea is aiming for its share of renewable energy to rise to 11 percent by 2030 from the current 2 percent. In comparison, the current share of renewable energy in Europe is 5-6 percent.
The Singapore plant of Neste Oil is negative in terms of profit now given that it is still in the construction phase, Neste Oil Singapore Managing Director Petri Jokinen said, adding that he is hoping for the plant to turn profitable as soon as possible.
Neste Oil has a similar-sized facility under construction in Rotterdam, which is due to be commissioned in mid-2011. It already operates two renewable diesel plants in Finland with a combined annual capacity of 380,000 tons.
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