All the development are large in scale. More than 50% of all air conditioning activities in the UAE concerns district cooling.

Indeed, there are operational issues to look at. We need to examine low delta-T, the quality of water and also controls in the realm of district cooling.

A key concern of mine is the need to pay attention to proper knowledge – to catch up with the operational experience as quickly as possible. It is important to go back to these plants and do the necessary improvements.

To bolster his point, Safi points out that in many countries, the electricity providers give incentives to district cooling companies and to customers that connect to district cooling.

Obviously, the incentive regime stems from the fact that the electricity provider saves on power, since the load required in the night to produce chilled water or ice is less compared to that required during daytime. The power saved can, of course, be diverted for some other use.

Several decision makers in the industry feel that there is a need to lobby on this issue to highlight the advantage to the electricity providers as well as to chilled water utility providers. And the means to do that, they feel, would be through a common body – the Middle East chapter of IDEA that is soon to be established could, perhaps, be that body.

Many in the industry feel there is also a need for a regulatory body that would protect the interests of utility providers, developers and end-users. The body, they feel, would protect all three parties from the scourge of ill-qualified district cooling consultants and inadequately experienced district cooling providers. “We really can do without the situation of somebody else with no experience in the business jumping in and trying to come up with the certain ‘solutions’ that might harm the industry,” says Prashanth. And for this we need a regulatory body in place. Agrees Younan: “District cooling is quite a complicated business. It requires professionals to own, design and operate a plant, else it will lead to disaster, especially for the owner and the investor. Really, it is one thing to build a plant and another to run it in an efficient, optimal way that will ensure profitability and also ensure the well being of the environment.”

Along the same lines, Safi advocates what he calls a best practices approach to district cooling. “District cooling has benefits, provided it is implemented properly,” he says. “We really want to see more and more companies offering the best service to the clients.” Adds George Berbari, CEO of DC PRO Engineering: “Such is the growth in the region that inadequate time is being given to proper engineering, to learn from previous mistakes. There seems to be no time taken for feedback and for lessons on what would be improved. All growth is happening based on new plants. And plants are being built on theoretical data rather than operational data. This situation has to change.”

erbari also talks of entering a new realm – of stepping to the plate and delivering innovative solutions. He bemoans what he perceives as a trend to offer run-of-the-mill solutions. “We are seeing enormous growth in the region, as a result of which everybody is rushing in to build as many plants as possible,” he says. “It’s becoming a copy-and-paste scenario. People are simply reinventing the wheel.”

The need of the hour, Berbari feels, is for an approach based on R & D and innovation. “The growth is great, and district cooling is something we are proud of,” he says, “ but I hope that companies will have the time to reflect back, to develop and examine existing plants and improve.”