District cooling provider bags awards for the number of buildings committed to district cooling in 2009 and for the total building area committed to district cooling.

Qatar Cool on June 15 won a Gold Award at the International District Energy Association (IDEA) 2009 District Energy Space awards, in the Beyond North America category. The awards ceremony was part of the 101st Annual IDEA Conference & Trade Show, in Indianapolis, USA.

Qatar Cool won gold for the number of buildings committed to district energy during 2009. The district cooling provider also won a silver for the total building area committed to district energy. Qatar Cool contracted 44 new buildings in 2009, serving 11,060,237 square feet.

Fayad Khatib and Rob Thornton

Qatar Cool General Manager, Fayad Al Khatib received the awards from IDEA President, Rob Thornton.

Speaking on the occasion, Al Khatib said, “Qatar Cool is very proud to have received these awards as it is wonderful recognition of the commitment our board and staff have made to provide a quality, world-class service to our customers and the people of Qatar.”

Speaking generally about the health of the district energy industry, Thornton said that district energy system growth has been good, despite an extremely challenging global economy. “Our members reported that 95 customer buildings in North America, totaling 27,440,426 square feet of building space were committed or recommitted to district energy service during 2009. That compares with 126 buildings and 39,897,947 square feet during 2008.  Beyond North America (including the Middle East) an additional 41,113,744 square feet and 102 buildings reported for 2009, compared to the 2,815 buildings and 281,870,939 square feet during 2008.”

Earlier, on June 14, Al Khatib was part of the session, titled ‘Large Scale District Cooling Systems in Canada, the United States and Qatar’.

Al Khatib described the significant progress Qatar Cool had made in its five-year history, supporting Qatar’s infrastructure development servicing customers in West Bay and The Pearl-Qatar.

Qatar Cool will have the largest district cooling plant in the world, when its newest plant on The Pearl-Qatar is inaugurated in November 2010. That is the month in which Qatar will host the 5th International District Cooling Conference & Trade Show. To be held from November 7 to 9, in Doha, it will be the first time ever that the conference will get an airing outside the UAE. In Indianapolis, Al Khatib and Thornton on June 15 signed an agreement, formalising Qatar Cool as the host of the conference.

Later, speaking exclusively to Climate Control Middle East, Al Khatib said that the conference would be an opportunity for the region to learn – and to benefit – from the collective expertise available in the form of IDEA.

Watch this space for a detailed report on the IDEA conference in Indianapolis, with exclusive interviews with Fayad Al Khatib and Rob Thornton.