Hearing from Michelle Woo, VP Venture Build, ENGIE Factory Asia Pacific
How does your business’s commitment to being a force for good align with its overall mission and values?
Faced with the climate emergency and the need to reduce polluting emissions, it is now essential to find faster ways to transition to carbon neutrality. ENGIE is investing and working to conceive new innovative solutions for low-carbon energy and services, or for the circular economy. With one purpose: decarbonize human activities.
In Southeast Asia, ENGIE we are a fast-growing team with a geographical focus in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to provide tailor-made integrated solutions for our customers in commercial buildings, industries, cities, and communities. Using globally leading technologies, we create innovative energy and smart solutions that enhance the performance of homes, businesses, and communities to make the world a better place. We act throughout the value chain: strategy, design, engineering, energy-efficient asset construction, digital platforms, operations management, financing syndication and outcome assurance.
To accelerate our decarbonisation efforts, the company has a dedicated corporate startup studio called ENGIE Factory (formed since 2018) which focuses on building new climate-tech startup solutions. ENGIE Factory works with founders to deliver investment-grade venture opportunities. We build their ventures by combining the best of both worlds: the entrepreneurial skillset and the established corporate assets. This results in commercialised climate-tech solutions that are customer-focused, affordable, and market-ready.
Can you discuss any unique or innovative approaches your business has taken to be a force for good?
With our start-up studios, research teams and investments in start-ups, ENGIE has built a single ecosystem focused on innovation. ENGIE Factory was created as the startup studio of ENGIE Group. We partner with entrepreneurs to build new, scalable startups that will impact our climate. We co-build the new business with the founders, provide early-stage funding, and direct access to enterprise-grade resources and networks from ENGIE which gives our startups a competitive advantage and fast track to global growth.
The climate-tech businesses that our founders build with us are all on the same mission to accelerate decarbonisation and resolve our climate urgency. And the ENGIE Factory team is dedicated to supporting our startups throughout their growth.
Can you discuss any partnerships or collaborations your business has formed in order to have a greater positive impact?
As a leader in the energy revolution, ENGIE offers a comprehensive range of clean mobility solutions that transform the way energy is used. We are proud to share that ComfortDelGro ENGIE Pte Ltd (CDG ENGIE) is set to grow its islandwide network of electric vehicle (EV) charging points with its latest tender win.
The year-old consortium comprising ComfortDelGro’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ComfortDelGro Engineering Pte Ltd and ENGIE South East Asia (ENGIE), has been awarded two in 10 packages in a highly contested Land Transport Authority (LTA) tender for the installation of EV charging points covering nearly 2,000 Housing Development Board (HDB) car parks. This further cements CDG ENGIE as one of Singapore’s largest EV charging operators with operations spanning across the East, West, Central as well as the North regions of Singapore.
The latest tender win, which comprises up to 4,509 alternate current (AC) charging points at 387 HDB car parks comes hot on the heels of its successful bid in the 2021 pilot tender by the Land Transport Authority-Urban Redevelopment Authority (LTA-URA) for the operation of 479 charging points at car parks managed by HDB, JTC Corporation, NParks, People’s Association and URA. Two-thirds of these charging points have been deployed, with the remaining on track to be deployed in the next few months. Outside of the LTA-URA pilot tender, CDG ENGIE also operates charging points at car parks on ComfortDelGro premises, school campuses and commercial sites.
Beyond this tender, CDG ENGIE has also been working very closely with the authorities and its partners to encourage the adoption of EVs. In May 2022, CDG ENGIE collaborated with GetGo Carsharing to support the deployment of GetGo EVs at Jurong Spring on its electric charging platform, with plans to expand islandwide. In June, CDG ENGIE also joined Voltality, an eMobility platform which provides EV drivers with the convenience of using any EV charger across Singapore using a single interface.
Can you discuss any ways in which your business’s efforts to be a force for good have positively impacted the local community?
With our partners, ENGIE is switching on the power of solar across Singapore. Singapore is targeting to increase its solar capacity to at least 2 gigawatt-peak by 2030. ENGIE is committed to helping Singapore unlock its full solar power potential and achieve its Green Plan 2030 ambitions.
This will mean producing enough energy to power approximately 350,000 households a year sustainably. While Singapore is on track, there is still much to be done, with nearly half of that targeted solar capacity yet to be achieved. We are proud to share that we have secured multiple solar rooftop projects across the country. In fact, we commissioned three solar projects in November alone. In their first year of operation, these projects will provide over 12,800 MWh of energy generation and save over 5,000 tons in carbon (CO2) emissions. That CO2 saving is equivalent to the impact of planting more than 250,000 rain trees, in a single year.
Can you discuss any advice or lessons learned that you would like to share with other businesses that are looking to make a positive impact?
In order to accelerate the transition to a carbon neutral economy, ENGIE strategically partners with startups and innovators. Corporates who work with startups gain a fast track to testing new solutions, exploring new markets and disrupting the market with different business models. Most importantly, working with startups helps corporates keep up with emerging trends and changes in the market.
Our startup studio, ENGIE Factory, partners with entrepreneurs to build new, scalable startups that will impact our climate. We co-build the new business with the founders, provide early-stage funding, and direct access to enterprise-grade resources and networks from ENGIE which gives our startups a competitive advantage and fast track to global growth. The climate-tech businesses that our founders build with us are all on the same mission to accelerate decarbonisation and resolve our climate urgency.
Meeting our 2023 Judges – Interview series
Post #1 – Diana Gan – Founder of Elementary Capital
Catch-up with 2022 Winners – Interview series
Post #1 – Michelle Woo, VP Venture Build, ENGIE Factory Asia Pacific (Corporate Winner)
Catch-up with 2022 Judges – Interview series
Post #1 – Li Lian Liew GEMBA’13 – Director, Corporate Planning at Tan Tock Seng Hospital & Central Health
Post #2 – Apo Ozkececi MCCC’19Dec-S – SVP Commercial & Regional Head, Asia Pacific, Accelya