Ching Yi and Dennis, engineers at Marina Bay’s District Cooling System in Singapore, offer a rare look at the hidden underground network keeping one of the world’s most tropical cities cool.
Key insights:
Located 25 metres underground, the plant uses just 18 shared chillers to serve 27 buildings — 30–40% more efficiently than individual building systems.
Up to 60 MWh of cooling is stored nightly as ice when electricity is cheaper, released during peak demand.
Buildings on district cooling see lifecycle cost savings of 30–50% over 30 years, plus freed-up rooftop space for other uses.
The network is expanding to serve 50 buildings by 2030, with cooling accounting for 30–40% of Singapore’s total electricity consumption.