Pietro Moro, Sales Director, Building Services and Industry, Xylem Pumps

Dubai, UAE, 5 November 2018: It is important to understand what drives retrofits and, today, it seems like the return on investments is what drives the market to retrofit, said Pietro Moro, Sales Director, Building Services and Industry, Xylem Pumps, while elaborating on the existing challenges to retrofitting. “It is important for professionals in the pump’s sub-industry to have a solution strategy in investment, not only from a capex point of view but also from an opex point of view,” he added. With reference to pumps used in cooling towers, he highlighted that the use of VFD systems is common. “The pumps sub-industry also has other technologies, such as controllers that have the capability to connect with other devices, such as the BMS system, which operates as per load,” he said. In addition, today, the market is facing trouble with regard to the financing of retrofit projects, he said. “There is a lack of knowledge in terms of having the right industry approach to investments, especially when it comes to deploying energy-efficient pumps,” Moro added.

Ronak Monga, Business Development Manager, Grundfos Middle East, echoes Moro. He highlighted that, today, pump manufacturing companies encourage retrofits. “We see a 40% increase in the demand for retrofit projects; however, we have also noticed that pumps are often an ignored component and are considered to have a low savings potential,” asserted Monga. He said, “We need to understand that retrofitting is the answer to energy savings and if the system is monitored with the help of a BMS system, we can then propose a technology within the portfolio, which will help to calculate the return on investments.”