District cooling saves BD750m in power costs, says Tabreed Bahrain

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The company estimates that a total of 550 MegaWatts (MW) of electric power capacity could be freed up by 2030 as part of the ongoing Bahrain North Shore developments - which equals a saving for the Kingdom of over BD750m.

Bahrain's electricity supply is dominated by the demands made on it by the use of air conditioning systems which can be as much as 65% during peak summer periods - much of this caused by old and inefficient cooling systems.

Tabreed Bahrain is currently working on district cooling projects for some of the Kingdom's major projects including Bahrain Financial Harbour, Reef Island and for both existing and new developments in the Diplomatic and Seef areas of Manama.

Research by the company has shown that there will be major benefits to the Kingdom with the use of large scale District Cooling systems; including significantly reducing the demands on power generation hence saving the Kingdom considerable sums of money in an environment where Bahrain's demand for power has increased 84% since the year 2000.

Bernt Andersson, Chief Executive Officer, Tabreed Bahrain said:

'The research work and evaluation we have done clearly show there will be significant benefits to the Kingdom and private sector developers from the introduction of large scale district cooling systems. It can reduce peak power demand across the country by up to 65% - particularly important when we have estimated that up to 70% of new power demand will come from air conditioning demands alone.'

At a time when energy prices are forecast to grow in the longer term - especially those associated with gas which produces the majority of electricity in Bahrain - savings of this magnitude will be welcomed by Bahrain, argues Mr. Andersson.

Experts at Tabreed Bahrain also forecast that district cooling systems - long-term infrastructure projects can provide chilled water for several districts from integrated energy efficient central plants - this will play an increasingly important role in the long term development of the country.

With district cooling, building developers and owners can avoid the substantial capital costs of constructing their own chiller system, and reduce significant costs associated with connecting their chillers to the electric grid.