Empower urges global district cooling industry to focus on research and development to realise “future cities” at 107th IDEA Conference in USA

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (EMPOWER), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, urged the global district cooling industry to invest more resources in research and development to realise future cities that preserves natural resources for generations to come.

This call made by HE Ahmad Bin Shafar, Chief Executive Officer of Empower in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the United States while speaking at the 107th   International District Energy Association (IDEA) Annual Conference and Trade Show that will conclude on 23rd June.

Bin Shafar has participated as a panelist in the Opening Plenary Leadership Panel Discussion under the title “Embracing Change”; at the annual global conference.  

The panel discussion was attended by global leaders, industry experts and district energy leaders. The discussion explored the future changes that could be necessitated in the energy and utility sector, and the integration of thermal and electricity for more resilient and sustainable cities, communities and campuses.

Ahmad Bin Shafar also spoke about Empower’s involvement as an active Partner to the UNEP District Energy in Cities efforts, particularly in providing technical and business development guidance in India, where population density and infrastructure needs converge to make district cooling an important investment for clustered development.  

He shared insights from his experiences, as well as from the rapid assessment that Empower participated to conduct in Indian cities, about the scenario and challenges in implementing district cooling in India’s less sophisticated and dense cities. He highlighted the learnings Empower earned from Dubai, which would be transferred to places like Morocco, Chile, China, and Serbia. Empower delegation from various departments such as sales and marketing, operations & maintenance, finance and business support will participate at sessions about smart metering logic in sustaining energy and how to control and eliminate failures and increase efficiency of GRP pipe networks. 

“The Plenary Session was a tremendous opportunity to showcase Dubai’s successful model of district cooling services specifically, and the model of infrastructure development in general. Our experience in the industry is unique, which is now being researched and simulated in other countries. Empower is delighted to share our knowledge and expertise and we disseminate what we earned, technically and as a sustainable business, to developing countries,” Bin Shafar said.

“The district cooling industry, at a global level, needs more continuous research & development. Energy is a phenomenon being subjected to rapid changes, and this necessitates all the engaged stakeholders to swiftly respond to the changes and emergences. Empower has realised this very early, and we allocated a significant part of our resources for research and development. We have proved its success, and the awards we earned internationally, and the savings we make every day through technology optimisation, underline this fact,” he added.

The plenary session examined what kind of changes are expected across the energy industry, such as lower fuel costs; increasing demand for resiliency; growing attention to climate adaptation among others. Panelists expressed their views on how the changes are happening today.

The session also discussed about the level of interest in developing cities around the world, on district cooling and its advantages.

Empower currently operates more than 1.1 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 and Dubai Design District, among others.