Empower marks Innovation Week 2015 with significant achievements

As part of the Innovation Week 2015 which includes 800 events and initiatives spread over six days, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world's largest district cooling services provider, underlined its innovative advancements in the District Cooling industry in Dubai to mark this nationwide significant event. 

“The UAE leadership has earmarked quality of life as the core of the national agenda, signalling that the happiness of citizens and residents is at the heart of Vision 2021,” says HE Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower. “In line with the UAE Government declaration of 2015 as the ‘Year of Innovation’, and in implementation of the directive of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, regarding Innovation Week 2015, we are delighted to share our modern innovative solutions we have initiated with the world using this one of a kind event. Thiswill help us further enhance the District Cooling service in Dubai, and beyond.”

Empower has put forward a comprehensive plan to direct its future development in the District Cooling service. The company plans to close this year with the highest ratings in customer satisfaction and happiness index.

On a relevant note, The International District Energy Association (IDEA) has honoured Empower this year with the IDEA Innovation Award 2015, in recognition of its Centralized Metering Data Management System that manages more than 50,000 smart meters. The company has received this award for the second time, a reflection of its high global standing in the field of innovation. The company won first Innovation Award of IDEA in 2013 for its ground-breaking TSE technology that saves millions of gallons of potable water at its plants. With the current number of existing meters installed and being maintained for end-users’ district cooling consumption, almost 33,500meters are on-line and the number is set to surpass 50,000 meters by end of 2015.

Moreover, Empower’s 2nd Business Bay facility (BB – 2) has attained a Gold rating in Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) as the first in the Middle East region. LEED certifications, granted by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), are a global benchmark in sustainable design. Sustainability is a core value at Empower and is integrated into our operations, as our plants use less energy to provide safe and reliable cooling services to thousands of people in Dubai. Under LEED ratings, the facility follows the v2009 system, which is the most recent rating classification employed by the USGBC. “This LEED certification is a testament to the UAE’s emergence as one of the most dynamic markets for green buildings,” said Bin Shafar. 

All the emirates in the UAEare taking part in the Innovation Week 2015, along with 214 participants from federal and local governments and the private sector. National initiatives and international partnerships will be announced during the campaign, besides hosting public activities across the country.

Empower has kicked off this year with a customer satisfaction survey that targeted its 50,000 customers, including building owners, end-users, commercial and residential users, hotels, health and educational institutions across Dubai.“We initiated this survey with our customers to gauge their perceptions on many parameters, including billing, district cooling system performance, operations, maintenance and complaint handling through detailed face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews and online surveys,” added Bin Shafar.

“It has become crucial for Empower to deliver advanced services, due to its growing number of customers.”

Empower recently started monitoring the activities of 26 of its 62 plants, through its state-of-the-art, world-class Command Control Centre (CCC), a first of kind, advanced and high-performance smart network which clearly demonstrates the company's innovation. 

“We have innovatively developed this system to provide a holistic smart monitoring of all the operations of our plants in Dubai to ensure smooth, reliable and sustainable district cooling services across the Emirate. The centre that is unique not only in the UAE but also globally is a testament on how we deploy latest technologies to increase the level of innovation in our operations,” said Bin Shafar. 

Empower's CCC is a major step in Dubai’s march towards conservation by providing environmental friendly and more efficient district cooling services. Through the services of this centre, a large segment of consumers of district cooling in Dubai will receive more efficient and sustainable services. The centre also ensures high-performance control as it adopts precise and highly advanced measurement systems. This first of its kind investment will provide multi-level measurement tools to track and manage different aspects of district cooling.Empower said the smart connectivity of its plants through this centre was being powered by the communications infrastructure of Dubai. It is currently monitoring 350 buildings, reflecting 10,000 individual single unit meters, and could add around 650 more buildings, and around 90,000 more individual unit meters. This represents a new chapter in the history of district cooling operations in the world, thanks to the state of the art centralized Enterprise level SCADA system. CCC also uses programmable logic controls (PLC) which ensure that the data is more accurate, and well archived.

“We urge all organisations in the UAE to undertake similar initiatives and join the Innovation Week 2015. We are now competing with players on a global scale, and this week is a key component in enhancing innovation and increase competiveness,” concluded Bin Shafar.

Empower  currently operates more than 1 Million RT, providing environmentally responsible district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments such as Jumeirah Group, Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Financial Centre, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Ibn Battuta Mall, Discovery Gardens, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai World trade Centre Residences, Dubai Design District, among others.