Empower to build Dubai's 'greenest' cooling plant

Empower has awarded a Dh155 million contract to electro-mechanical contractor TransGulf to build what it claims to be Dubai's greenest district cooling plant yet, to cater for the expansion of Business Bay.

The new plant had been designed to meet the additional cooling requirements of the buildings in Business Bay, above. Antonie Robertson / The National
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Empower has awarded a Dh155 million project to the contractor Trans Gulf Electro Mechanical to build what it claims to be Dubai's greenest district cooling plant - to cater for the expansion of Business Bay.

According to a company announcement yesterday, Trans Gulf will erect the plant building as well as assembling infrastructure such as pumps, chillers, water tanks, cooling towers and office space.

The plant, which will be Empower's second in Business Bay, will require only 0.9 kilowatts to produce one refrigeration tonne of cooling.

Traditional non-district cooling systems consume up to double that amount - 1.8KW of energy every hour - to produce one RT (refrigeration tonne) of cooling.

Empower, a joint venture between Tecom Investments and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), said it would be the first to comply with Dubai Executive Council's new environmental sustainability guidelines, which were unveiled at the Arab International Sustainable Real Estate Conference in May.

The plant is expected to be completed by mid-2014 and will have a full capacity of 45,000 RTs.

Shoring and enabling works were completed by HSSG in May and the recommended excavation level of 12 metres has now been reached.

Empower said the new plant had been designed to "meet the additional cooling requirements of the buildings" in Business Bay, one of the areas hardest hit by the Dubai property crash in 2009 that has become renowned for its stalled half-completed towers.

But over the past year, property developers have once again turned their attention to Business Bay as the area capitalises on its proximity to Emaar's popular Downtown district.

"The new Business Bay district cooling plant is an important milestone for Empower and a new addition to the plants we operate in one of the most prestigious areas of Dubai," said Ahmad bin Shafar, Empower's chief executive.

"We are delighted to have Trans Gulf as a strategic partner in this deal which saw a high level of interest and which reflects Empower's strategy to offer the best district cooling services in the UAE."

The company said in February it was raising Dh1 billion for new projects as part of an expansion.