Beneath Punggol, in northeastern Singapore, a five-kilometer network of metal pipes circulates chilled water to chill office buildings and classrooms above. In the identical area, Engie operates two district cooling systems that serve roughly 8,000 public housing units.
This technology, called district cooling, is 140 years old. It has now once more change into one in every of Singapore’s key solutions to coping with temperatures which might be rising twice as fast as the worldwide average.
Singapore has installed similar networks in a minimum of eight districts. The largest is the Marina Bay network, which is taken into account the world’s largest underground cooling system and has been operating since 2006.
The expansion comes as Singapore prepares for an unusually hot season on account of the Super El Niño phenomenon, while many countries, including Singapore, struggle with energy shortages resulting from the conflict between the United States and Iran.
How technology works and its origins
District cooling works on a comparatively easy principle. The water is cooled to around 7 degrees Celsius in large tanks containing refrigerants after which distributed to heat exchangers within the buildings.
The warm room air is cooled because it passes through the chilled water before being recirculated through the ventilation systems. The heated water is then pumped back to the central plant, where excess heat is released through cooling towers.
The first generation of refrigeration systems were installed in Denver, United States, in 1889, using ammonia or brine solution because the distribution fluid. According to research cited by Bloomberg, using water as a coolant didn’t come into use until the Sixties within the eastern United States and Europe.
The scale of Singapore’s district cooling network
The Marina Bay network, operated by SP Group, is awaiting further expansion. The capability of the corporate’s foremost network is planned to extend by 2,000 reefer tonnes (RT), reaching 75,000 reefer tonnes by 2027.
With the addition of two latest satellite power plants within the Central Mall areas – Central Square and Marina Square, the entire network capability is predicted to succeed in 90,000 RT.
At full capability, the system is predicted to scale back cooling energy consumption by as much as 20 percent, cost of ownership by as much as 15 percent and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25,000 tons per yr, the equivalent of taking 22,700 cars off the road.
In the general public housing sector, Tengah was the primary project to implement a district cooling system for residential buildings. From 2020, residents can subscribe to the service, which is managed by SP Group and Daikin.
The system provides energy savings of as much as 30 percent and life cycle cost reductions of as much as 20 percent compared to traditional air-con systems.
However, when the system became operational in 2023, some residents reported problems similar to water leaks and warm air being evacuated from their apartments.
In addition to SP Group, HDB has partnered with Keppel as district cooling operator for several other build-to-order (BTO) projects in Tengah. In April 2026, HDB awarded Keppel a brand new contract for nine additional projects, bringing the entire variety of households connected to the Keppel system to roughly 14,000 across 12 Tengah BTO projects.
Engie, which operates two district cooling systems in Punggol, estimates that the district cooling market in Singapore currently has a capability of around 323,000 RT and will double over the following decade. The company also sees an analogous potential for increasing production capability in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Rising temperatures and future challenges
According to the Meteorological Service of Singapore (MSS), Singapore’s average surface temperature increased by 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade between 1948 and 2025. By comparison, the speed of worldwide warming between 1951 and 2012 was recorded at 0.12 degrees Celsius per decade, roughly half Singapore’s rate.
The Singapore government has declared 2026 because the Year of Climate Adaptation, and one in every of its key initiatives is a $40 million investment in heat-related research.
However, expanding refrigeration systems just isn’t without challenges. The technology is predicted to face increasing competition for water resources from other industries, especially as the worldwide boom in data centers consumes significant amounts of water.
In Johor, Malaysia, local authorities have temporarily suspended permitting for less water-efficient data center investments on account of concerns a few potential water crisis.
