At a value of AED 102 million, Empower upgrades its “JBR” district cooling plant

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation PJSC (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider has announced the launch of a modernization and upgradation project for the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) district cooling plant in Dubai. The project will incorporate cutting-edge technologies to improve the energy efficiency and reliability of the cooling system. The contract for the project has been awarded at a value of AED 102 million and is expected to be completed by 2025. 

This marks the third upgrade of the district cooling plant in the 19 years since its initial launch. The upgrade will bring the plant up to the next generation of district cooling systems and ensure that the Jumeirah Beach Residence and Blue Waters area continue to receive high-quality cooling services.

It is worth mentioning that the JBR plant was modernized for the first time in 2016 using Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) technology. The second modernization was done by adding Thermal Energy Storage (TSE) tanks with an additional capacity of 10,000 refrigeration tons (RT) of cooling, while the third modernization is being made on through the upgradation of cooling towers for greater efficiency.

Empower emphasized that the upgradation and modernization of its plants and operations are part of the company’s strategy to advance the district cooling infrastructure in Dubai and will bear many fruits, securing high quality environmentally-friendly district cooling services, and most notably making JBR one of the largest environmentally -friendly residential areas in the world. The upgrading processes also contribute to achieving huge savings in energy, increasing efficiency, significantly reducing carbon emissions, and relieving pressure on the national power grid.

His Excellency Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “The modernization project of the JBR plant is part of a pre-set plan to upgrade the infrastructure of all Empower plants in Dubai.” He explained that leveraging the latest technologies in the district cooling industry reflects the company’s keenness to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to make Dubai the city with the least carbon footprint in the world, in line with the directives of the wise leadership to achieve the outputs of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050.