MANAMA: Tabreed Bahrain, the world leader in district cooling, has announced that up to 50 percent of the Kingdom’s current power demand could be freed for other uses through the large scale use of district cooling systems for new and existing developments.
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 BD750 million.
Bahrain’s electricity supply is dominated by the demands made by the use of air conditioning systems which can be as much as 65 percent 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 Harbor, 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. “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,” Bernt Andersson, chief executive officer, Tabreed Bahrain, said.
“It can reduce peak power demand across the country by up to 65 percent — particularly important when we have estimated that up to 70 percent of new power demand will come from air conditioning demands alone,” he added.
“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.”
Experts at Tabreed Bahrain also forecast that district cooling systems will play an increasingly important role in the long term development of the country.
