Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower) will bid on more projects in the region as part of its expansion plans to meet a growing demand for district cooling, according to the company.

The Tecom Investments and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) joint venture claimed it provided more than 12,00km² of district-cooling solutions covering 80 buildings in 2009.

“We succeeded in building worldclass, district-cooling infrastructure that is considered an ideal economic and environmental solution for residential and commercial units, offices and hotels,” said Empower CEO Ahmad Bin Shafar.

“In Dubai, residential units are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of using districtcooling systems as an alternative to conventional AC systems, leading to energy saving and conservation, as well as lower operations and maintenance costs. This is in sharp contrast to lower awareness of its importance in other parts of the Middle East.”

In the UAE, district cooling was first used in the 1970s at Dubai International Airport, according to Empower. It was adopted commercially more frequently in 1998 with the real-estate boom and has been implemented increasingly in the past five years in large-scale projects. Shafar claimed that the operational savings in a residential unit using district cooling was between 40-45%, compared to air-conditioning technologies.

Empower has providing district cooling to a number of projects in Dubai, including Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai Healthcare City.