Doha, Qatar: Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) has announced launching reportedly the first low-grade heat-packaged solar cooling project in the MENA region, in partnership with Yazaki Energy Systems Corporation. Present during the occasion were Yusuke Nakahara and Arne Heuzeroth from the Corporation.

GORD said that the objective from the water-fire chiller project is to reduce the electricity consumption of compression-based cooling systems, as powered cooling accounts for more than 50% of the energy consumption of buildings in the MENA region, posing environmental concerns. Therefore, it added, alternative cooling solutions are an imperative focus to developing future energy policies in the Middle East.

The package, the R&D organisation highlighted, features a five RT hot water-driven chiller (WFC), which is driven by several collector types, reducing the electricity consumption of compression cooling plants.

GORD informed that its research team at TechnoHub research facility and experts from Yazaki Energy Systems Incorporation worked collaboratively to operate the newly installed system. TechnoHub, it added, is a novel technology-based platform for research in sustainability and advanced technologies in the MENA region, which aims to research, assess, develop and promote affordable, clean and efficient solutions.

“The success in implementing solar technologies in the MENA region is a paramount,” said Dr Yousef Alhorr, the Founding Chairman of GORD, adding, “we are committed to driving forward the focus on increasing the efficiency of our HVAC systems due to their high impact on resources consumption.”