Empower CEO H.E. Ahmad Bin Shafar

Dubai, UAE: Empower has reported that it has achieved a record saving of 263 million in imperial gallons of fresh water in 2015, enough to fill 478 Olympic swimming pools, despite the higher demand for District Cooling services in Dubai.

The company, which claims to occupy a share of 70% of District Cooling services in the emirate, said that this comes in the framework of Empower’s keenness to preserve water resources in Dubai and adherence to the national strategy for sustainable development of water resources.

H.E. Ahmad Bin Shafar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Empower, said that the company follows the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in saving natural resources. He said: “Empower succeeded in achieving record water-saving in 2015, thanks to the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, [who] stipulated that District Cooling companies must opt for sea water, grey water or Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) as opposed to desalinated water.”

Explaining the process, Bin Shafar said that the company uses TSE water in the tanks at the plants, which is further treated to produce chilled water multiple times. The chilled water, he added, is transported through insulated pipes to the buildings where warm water returns to Empower’s plant rooms to be re-chilled.

Calling District Cooling an “optimised solution” to overcome challenges related to scarcity of water resources, Bin Shafar said, “Empower makes great strides in minimising its water footprint where all our cooling plants follow these international standards,” and added that the achievement is the result of long-term investment in water technologies.

The company informed that it was awarded International District Energy Association (IDEA)’s first Innovation Award in 2013 for using TSE in its District Cooling operations.