Dubai, UAE, 22 November 2018: In 2016 and 2017, Etihad ESCO retrofitted more than 2,000 buildings and facilities, said Ali Al Jassim, CEO, Etihad ESCO, who stressed that over the past two years, the company provided value savings of close to AED 100 million. “In Dubai Airport,” Al Jassim said, “we are retrofitting Terminal 1, Terminal 2, Terminal 3 and Concourse B. The savings we are trying to achieve is AED 30 million every year, so the electricity bill will come down by that much.” Al Jassim said, in order to to meet these objectives, the body is changing and modifying some of the chillers, air pumps, air handling units and the air conditioning of Terminal 1, 2 and 3, in addition to some of the water fixtures. Once the project is completed by mid-2019, he said, Etihad ESCO will have achieved approximately 26-30% savings in Dubai Airport. Currently, he added, the company will oversee retrofit up to 150,000 lighting fixtures in Terminal 1, 2 and 3.

Overall, Al Jassim said, awareness and knowledge of retrofitting for energy reduction is growing with each year, among the public and private sectors. That being said, Al Jassim stressed, Etihad ESCO remains proactive in promoting the importance of energy efficiency to stakeholders. “We still have a long way to go in terms of having the whole society of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates at one level of understanding on the importance of preserving energy for generations to come,” he said. “But we will keep speeding up the momentum in getting everyone aligned. It is important, we need to preserve resources and utilise them in the most efficient way.”

Al Jassim said the public sector is leading by example, in terms of retrofitting its facilities, but that the private sector can often be apprehensive, owing to commercial considerations. “At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of decision making,” he said, adding it is the technology and financing available that will mitigate the risk of such projects.

Hannah Jo Uy is Assistant Editor at Climate Control Middle East magazine. She may be contacted at hannah@cpi-industry.com