A district cooling plant at Lekhwiya camp in Al Duhail.
Doha: Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has said that the district cooling system, the most energy-efficient air-conditioning system, is expected to reduce nearly 10 million tonnes of carbon emission in 15 years.
The growing use of district cooling system boosts Qatar’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions. The district cooling system is among the most modern and sustainable cooling systems available, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 10 million tonnes between 2015 and 2030, Kahramaa said in a tweet. The district cooling system covers 19% of total cooling capacity in Qatar accounting over one million tonnes, which is expected to reach 24% by 2030, according to Kahramaa.
The total cooling generation of Qatar was recorded at 5.5 million tonnes in 2020. District cooling shared one million tonnes and the remaining 4.4 million tonnes cooling was generated through conventional air-conditioning.
One million tonnes of district cooling was generated by 48 DC plants which are operating across the country. The DC plants are serving all stadiums, the venues of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022; tourist places in Qatar like Msheireb Downtown Doha, The Pearl-Qatar; and the Tower Area in Al Dafna, a cluster of over 50 towers.
Air conditioning accounts for around 60 to 70 percent of Qatar’s total electricity demand and district cooling consumes up to 40 percent less energy than conventional cooling system, making huge saving.
District cooling can bring economic, environmental and societal benefits to Qatar.
From 2013 to 2019 by the utilisation of district cooling, Qatar achieved 125 MW saving in generation capacity and 827 MW saving in electricity distribution capacity. During the period of study, the reduced fuel consumption helped save 8,238 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent emission reduction.
District Cooling (DC) consists of a central cooling plant that supplies chilled water to more than one building through a water piping network. Kahramaa’s District Cooling Services Department had announced earlier that it was conducting a feasibility study to help set up investment projects of district cooling (DC) plants, enabling individual villas and houses to benefit from the most efficient cooling system.
