Dubai’s Supreme Council is considering making the use of district cooling mandatory in certain, high-density areas, in an effort to both improve usage rates of existing infrastructure and eventually increase its use in overall installed bases around the emirate.

Although plans have not been finalised, the ruling could be introduced in 2015.

Today, 16 per cent of the emirate’s air conditioning capacity comes from district cooling, but this would rise if district cooling was used more efficiently. By 2030, Dubai wants the proportion of its installed capacity coming from district cooling to reach 40 per cent.

Speaking to MEED at the Clean Energy Forum conference held in Dubai on 22-24 September, Faisal Ali Rashid, director of demand side management at Dubai’s Supreme Council of Energy, said new urban planning will ensure district cooling is not underused.

“It is more economical and efficient to target the most [heavily populated] areas; this makes district cooling very efficient,” he said. “New urban planning will take some share [towards reaching the 40 per cent target] and also existing plants when we increase their capacity and distribute cooling to more consumers.”