District cooling continues its ascent as chilling technology of choice in the Middle East.
It is no secret that utility providers in the Middle East are struggling to keep pace with growing demand for power.
With air conditioning said to account for as much as 50% of peak power load requirements, it is not surprising that efforts to cut energy consumption are very much focused on this area, particularly within the residential sector.
This efficiency drive has proven to be a great fillip for the district cooling industry, as property developers are encouraged to move away from conventional cooling methods to more efficient centralised systems.
Analysts say that in less than a decade the district cooling market has grown from a near standing start to be worth US$10-30billion over the next ten years.
District cooling is not a new technology, however. The first plants were built in Bahrain and Kuwait in the mid-1960s. But as energy conservation back then was not high on political agenda, district cooling was slow to gain in popularity.
That has all changed now, of course, as governments the world over are facing up to the harsh realities of climate change; the sector is going from strength to strength, as a result.
Emirates lead
The UAE is at the forefront of much of this growth, as Paul Beaudry from SNC Lavalin Gulf Contractors, which builds district cooling networks, explains: "The UAE has created the momentum behind the district cooling sector in the Middle East; they are ahead of the other countries.
There has been rapid development in the UAE and there is so much demand for energy that they have to find alternatives that use less energy to develop the country - they have no choice.
"Water cooling with these systems is more efficient and it takes half the space and half the energy of other technologies," he adds.
In a district cooling system, water which has been chilled to 5-8 degrees Celsius is fed from a central plant via a network of underground pipes to buildings, where it circulates through fan coil units.
Within these units, fans blow air across coils carrying the chilled water and the air is subsequently cooled.
According to statistics, district cooling uses 40-50% less energy than traditional air conditioning systems, which can account for as much as 70% of a building's electricity bill.
Producing one tonne of refrigeration using conventional air conditioning takes 1.7 kw of power, while district cooling can consume as little as 0.85 kw per tonne. This frees up considerable amounts of energy to be used elsewhere and means new power generation capacity has to be installed less often.
Other advantages that district cooling has over air conditioning are that the systems generate less noise; are less prone to breakdowns; and maintenance needs are considerably reduced.
Region follows
Although the UAE is currently generating the most orders for district cooling installations, demand is gathering pace in other countries in the region.
"Right now the strongest demand is in the UAE, but other markets are following behind: Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also going to be big users," says Keith Evans managing director at Tas Middle East, which supplies packaged central cooling plants.
It is rolling out from the UAE and every Gulf country is taking it on. We are looking at jobs in Africa and India too.
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