Could you introduce Dalkia Group EDF and your services in the Middle East?
Steve Lemoine: As a subsidiary of EDF Group, Dalkia is an international player providing low-carbon energy solutions and operations with a worldwide presence. For over 85 years – and with more than 19,000 employees, worldwide – Dalkia has developed renewable and recovered energy sources and solutions while helping its clients to achieve energy savings and to reduce their CO2 emissions. Dalkia is also a close-knit community and stands by its clients and partners through thick and thin. Together, we are fighting the climate challenge by implementing local solutions that are innovative, cost-effective, eco-friendly and practical.
Today, Dalkia is striving through a successful international development in the Middle East.

The reasons for the region’s growing importance in the energy innovative solutions field are threefold. First, the Middle Eastern countries are committed to the energy transition. Second, our clients are looking for decarbonization solutions, and third is the possibility of developing contracts to sustain these solutions over the long term. This is our core business, and our offer in the Middle East is based on bringing energy efficiency and optimization for our clients, operation and maintenance excellence of technical equipment, and on building, maintaining and operating district cooling networks.

Could you elaborate on Dalkia’s presence in the Middle East?
Lemoine: Dalkia EDF Group entered the Middle East towards the end of 2018 to develop 100% digital offerings for buildings, with the aim of generating energy savings for our customers without investment. At the time, I was the only person present on ground. Four years later, Dalkia in the Middle East has a strong local team of experts and engineers with three offices – one in Dubai, one in Abu Dhabi and our recently inaugurated local headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Do you have any significant ongoing or recent projects that you would like to showcase?
Lemoine: We are very proud to support the Middle East in its energy transition. We have secured contracts with public and private sectors, in every field of our expertise. Everything started with our first energy efficiency contract in the Middle East in 2019 with an iconic tower in the capital of Saudi Arabia, which enabled us to set up the first Dalkia Energy Savings Center (DESC) outside France. From this first successful reference, we were able to build a broader ambition: We began to position ourselves in Energy Performance Contract tenders for public buildings.

Steve Lemoine

Then, we led alongside with Abu Dhabi Energy Services (ADES) a detailed Facility Study at the United Arab Emirates University. This project aims to deliver significant energy savings, representing over 25% for the entire university campus; and we should soon start the energy performance contract.
When it comes to district cooling services, Dalkia has been appointed to design, build, operate and maintain Mohamed Bin Salman Non-Profit City district cooling network in Riyadh. The district cooling capacity will be equivalent to the district cooling of The Defense District in Paris, France.

Last, but not the least, we recently acquired U.S. Chiller Services company. U.S. Chiller Services is the largest independent global chiller and energy solutions provider in the Middle East, with offices in the GCC region countries and the United States. By integrating U.S. Chiller Services’ customers, references and employees specialized in operation and maintenance of large refrigeration production units, we have taken a key step towards the Middle East’s sustainable future. With around 400 employees, we are now a major industrial player supporting the region’s decarbonization strategy and are perfectly aligned with the region’s commitments towards a net-zero future.

What are Dalkia’s development ambitions in the region?
Lemoine: Our ambition is to become one of the leaders in the Middle East’s energy transition, which involves developing three integrated activities in the region.
The first activity is energy efficiency, stimulated by the increase of electricity prices, the recent introduction of a VAT and the desire of local governments to accelerate the energy transition. Dalkia estimates this market to be worth more than USD 5 billion, and we have already secured several projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The second is Dalkia’s historical core business: O&M of technical equipment. This is an important market for the Group, with strong development potential, and where there are still few players offering high value-added services.
Finally, the third activity is district cooling networks. Innovation, digitalization and market’s decarbonization are our priorities, as the cooling network market is estimated by our experts to be worth more than USD 10 billion in the Middle East in the coming years.

What are your forecasts for Dalkia in the Middle East for 2030?
Lemoine: Our aim is to remain attractive for our customers and our employees, while being at the forefront of the region’s long- term vision for decarbonization and performance. Our strength is also the international expertise and experience. By developing our projects in the Middle East, we bring into action the technology and innovations, develop local human resources and ensure effective knowledge transfer. The quality of local engineers in the sector is established amongst the younger generations, who are looking for opportunities within the full value chain of the energy transition. I am convinced that we are at the right place at the right time, in a fast-growing and dynamic region, where our expertise can be widely deployed to create technical, economic and human value, and become a local player, since we are a company anchored in the territories