A TEAM from Empower, the largest district cooling service provider in the Middle East, will review the first district cooling (DC) design manual compiled by an international organisation.

The first draft of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (Ashrae) design manual would be reviewed by Empower as the only district cooling company in the world to do so. Ashrae lauded Empower for initiating the idea of the design manual and providing the necessary impetus for the realisation of the project.

“Unfortunately, there are no guidelines for the design and building of a plant room. Prior to these guidelines, it was left to the consultants to use their own guidelines,” said Empower chief Ahmad Bin Shafar.

The district cooling manual will be an additional stand-alone publication that includes thorough coverage of planning, design, and operation issues relevant to district cooling applications in all regions of the world, including the Middle East.
“The new guidelines will provide a model for optimal design of district cooling systems, based on a number of field studies of both existing and new distribution systems.”

Meanwhile, Empower has invited district cooling companies in the Middle East to benefit from its experience and boost the growth of the industry that is growing between 15 and 20 per cent annually.

“Absence of long-term planning is one of the main obstacles of the district cooling industry,” said Bin Shafar. “The Middle East is still in its infancy in this field and the potential is great as government support is huge and new real estate projects launched over the past five years demand this technology. Further, this technology is environment friendly and is in line with government approach to energy conservation.”

He pointed out that other challenges include lack of high-calibre technical and marketing personnel, which has led to financial issues. In contrast, Empower achieved a revenue growth of 27 per cent last year, driven by a prudent policy.

“We are ready to support our peers in the industry so that we can enhance the global competitiveness of the Gulf’s district cooling industry. We have developed expertise that has been acquired through seven years of hard work and international collaboration.”

Bin Shafar said that the Gulf has a competitive edge compared to many other countries in the world because of its recent adoption of district cooling and this technology is seamlessly integrated into the real estate projects.

He added that the UAE was the first in the Middle East to realise the importance of district cooling as an alternative to conventional cooling, when compared to very limited usage in other parts of the region.

Empower tops the list of companies providing district cooling service in the region and is owned by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and Tecom.