Dubai, UAE, 23 October 2018: Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the District Cooling services provider, introduced the world’s first unmanned District Cooling plant that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and President of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), at the 20th Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) 2018, the company announced in a Press communiqué. The cooling plant is set to be completed in Jumeirah Village Area, the communiqué said.

Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower, explains the model of the plant to H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and President of DEWA

Empower is participating as a strategic partner in WETEX 2018, which is held under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the communiqué said. WETEX 2018 is organised from October 23 to 25, 2018, under the umbrella of ‘Green Week’ and with the theme ‘At the forefront of sustainability’, at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the communiqué further said.

His Highness was briefed by Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower, on a model of the world’s first unmanned and fully automated 50,000 tonnes of refrigeration (TR) District Cooling plant, to be completed in Jumeirah Village Area, by Empower, the communiqué said. The plant uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor and automatically adjust inflow and outflow of the chilled water, with 0.89 kW/t operational efficiency, using six water coolers (11 KV) to monitor and adjust the flow of water to and from the cooling station, as well as an Advanced SCADA system with the capacity to read two million data related to cooling towers, chillers, transformers, water supply, etc., the communiqué further said. It also uses award-winning TSE and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technologies to serve chilled water to 90 buildings, through ETS Rooms located in each building, the communiqué added.

According to Empower, the plant is set to be completed by Q4 of 2019. His Highness was also introduced to the most innovative technologies and solutions in the environmentally-friendly District Cooling industry, which Empower has developed in order to meet the growing demand for efficient and energy-saving cooling solutions, the communiqué said.

Commenting on the new project, Bin Shafar said: “Our participation at and sponsorship of WETEX confirms our pioneering role in supporting national efforts to raise global awareness on the importance of achieving sustainable development goals, and strengthening the United Arab Emirates’s position as a global hub for clean energy and a model for sustainability, through increasing the contribution of public and private sectors to the implementation of related strategies. We support the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which aims to reduce energy and water consumption by 30% by 2030, to make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world by 2050.”