Dubai, UAE: Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, announced the successful completion of all required preparations at its district cooling plants using the most sustainable and reliable technologies in district cooling operations, to cater to the increasing demand of summer season. The announcement coincided with the award of contracts worth AED 217 million by the company during the first quarter of 2021, to carry out various works such as developing company’s district cooling plants in Dubai, expanding the pipeline network, establishing Thermal Energy Storage tanks and Energy Transfer Stations, semi-permanent plants, and many others
As part of its preparations for the summer season, Empower said it takes the advantage of its state-of-the-art Command Control Centre (CCC) which is having a capacity of handling more than one million data parameters related to cooling towers, coolers, transformers, water supply and others using the advanced SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) system. The Centre functions through an advanced, high-performance smart network that helps to respond to any eventuality in plant operations with precise and quicker responses. The Company urged Dubai residents to rationalize the consumption of cooling energy during the summer in order to promote sustainable environmental practices and avoid incurring additional costs in their monthly bills.
Artificial intelligence (AI) to increase operational efficiency
Empower has developed a system that leverages artificial intelligence and weather forecast data to operate Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems in district cooling plants to reduce power wastage, optimise load on the national power grid, and improve the operational efficiency of district cooling systems. Empower explained that the maintenance processes have been successfully completed in all its plants, to ensure the continuity and quality of the cooling services provide to company’s customers across Dubai during the peak period of summer months.
50% saving in electricity consumption
Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “The demand for district cooling doubles during the summer season, for about 70% of the electricity consumption in the region goes for air conditioning, but thanks to the cutting-edge technologies, Empower’s district cooling systems consume 50% less electricity compared to traditional cooling systems. Empower utilizes the most advanced and globally recognized district cooling systems to meet the increasing demand, in line with the wise leadership’s vision to promote sustainable development across all sectors in Dubai. We are proud that Empower’s share in Dubai’s district cooling market is more than 76%. Last year, Empower has recorded a 6% growth in the number of buildings connected to its network, with a total of 1,252 projects in the housing, office, education, health, hospitality, retail and entertainment sectors.”
High readiness to provide uninterrupted services
Bin Shafar explained that the company’s responsibility to serve Dubai’s high-profile projects for their district cooling needs which requires the highest level of readiness to ensure high quality and uninterrupted service. This goal is accomplished by utilizing advanced and eco-friendly technologies in the production of cooling energy, and applying AI-based solutions in predicting breakdowns and troubleshooting.
Bin Shafar also pointed out that the company’s confidence in its ability to provide the services through remote working without affecting the service quality stems from the successful integration of the Command Control Centre (CCC) with the new Parallel Working Environment (PWE) technology, which enables the teams to monitor more than 100 cooling plants across Dubai simultaneously. The new technology, serving as a completely independent backup of the CCC, provides a holistic smart monitoring of all operations of Empower’s plants in Dubai to ensure smooth, reliable and sustainable district cooling services across the Emirate.
