Dubai's District Cooling Operators Association considers innovation and technological advancements for the sector

The Association of District Cooling Operators Dubai, the first entity of its kind in the region, conducted its third meeting that focused on some of the industry's pressing issues, most notably the adoption of innovation and modern technologies in offering the environmentally friendly district cooling services to over 3.3 million population of Dubai. An overview of the energy saving data for 2020 was also presented in the meeting that shows nearly 650GWh of electricity savings has been recorded by the use of District Cooling in Dubai, which is in the excess of the Demand Side Management program for annual savings target of 420GWh.

Ahmad bin Shafar, Chairman of the Association and CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), administered over the meeting in the presence of Ahmed Butti Al Muhairbi, Association's Secretary General, and the Secretary General of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE). The meeting was shown up by the members of the association, including Emaar District Cooling, Emirates District Cooling LLC (Emicool), National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed), Al-Futtaim Engineering, South Energy and Meydan, besides the DSCE and Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau (RSB) Dubai.

Moreover, to discuss ways to increase operational efficiency, the attendees agreed on the need to unite efforts and energies to enhance the industry's performance locally and globally. The meeting highlighted the importance of such endeavors with the UAE's district cooling market is ranked among the world's largest markets with a capacity of more than 3 million refrigeration tons (RT), compared to nearly 700,000 RT of the US market. The attendees further promised to put in force the application of the recently promulgated Executive Council Resolution (ECR 6) of 2021 on District Cooling.

Bin Shafar puts light on an innovation approach and accepting cutting-edge technologies have become inevitable to improve the performance of the sector, especially aspects related to rationalizing energy consumption, protecting natural resources and reducing carbon footprint.

The Chairman also interpreted that as part of its keenness to preserve natural resources, the Association has formed a sub-committee to corelate with government agencies, most notably the Dubai Municipality, with the aim of reaching a consensual vision on increasing the use of recycled water in district cooling operations.

The Association of District Cooling Operators Dubai, regions first association of its kind, was formed in October 2020 by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) with the focus of raising the efficiency of district cooling operations, promoting the complete use of water and energy resources, coordination and cooperation among operators to meet challenges and find effective solutions to them, in addition to ensuring the provision of high-quality cooling services to Dubai residents.