International District Cooling Conference opens in Dubai

Under the Patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Chairman of Emirates Airlines and Group, the International District Cooling Conference 2016 opened today at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai.

The two-day conference, themed ‘A Climate Solution’, will see the attendance of government officials, executives and industrialists representing international corporations alongside designers, contractors, consultants and suppliers.

Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, EMPOWER, and Rob Thornton, President and CEO of the International District Energy Association, IDEA, officially inaugurated the conference.

"This is a huge opportunity for stakeholders of the district cooling industry, globally and in the UAE, to showcase their products and services to an international audience from the Gulf region and beyond. It is of great pride that the opening has attracted that much attention from participants and media. We have high expectations from this event and we are confident that this international gathering will bring solutions in term of business deals and best practices for all attendees," Ahmad bin Shafar said.

In his opening remarks, Rob Thornton welcomed all the participants from government stakeholders, district cooling providers, real estate developers, hotel and property owners, master planners, designers, experts, contractors and consultants. Tim Griffin, Chair of IDEA, addressed the session.

Recognised industry leaders took part in the opening plenary panel discussion that focused on the best practices in district cooling systems deployment, operations and business.

Ahmad bin Shafar from Empower, Yasser Al Jaidah of Qatar Cool, Afif Harhara of Tabreed, Anwar Hassan from Johnson Controls, and Juan Ontiveros from the University of Texas Austin, among others, discussed the strategic role of district cooling in support of the Paris Agreement, COP 21.

The following panel discussions gave insightful interventions and presentations on financing district cooling solutions, regulations in the GCC, environmental innovations, design considerations taking into account regional factors, district cooling applications around the world and district cooling system optimisation to create customer value.

"This edition of the conference will allow us to find about the next generation of district cooling systems and related technology. Our goal is to set up development and upscaling goals that contribute to a sustainable and efficient energy and water management," said Rob Thornton.

The conference follows tomorrow with a rich programme featuring discussions on district cooling projects from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, comparative study of various systems, thermal energy storage and best practices in plant room construction, and operation and maintenance in the GCC region.

The conference is organised by IDEA, and hosted by Empower.