Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) organised a meeting of stakeholders in the district cooling sector.
Representatives of International District Cooling regulatory framework consultants such as Strategy&, FVB Energy and Latham & Watkins attended the meeting.
They discussed strategies and means to outline the district cooling regulatory framework, develop technical guidelines, share technical and operational thoughts for water management and strategies for the success of district cooling regulatory legal framework development.
The workshop as the first forum of its kind focused on district cooling provided an opportunity for the participants to discuss the sector’s challenges and the potential objectives of comprehensive regulatory framework in the arena.
The district cooling (DC) relies on large-scale centralised cooling that provides a wide spectrum of savings in energy consumption and infrastructure. It consequently reduces impact on the environment and helps improving sustainability.
The DC system operations are essentially hooked on electricity and water, an improvement in both electricity consumption and water management practices would substantially contribute to environmental sustainability.
Kahramaa has issued directives on prohibition of potable water usage for cooling purposes in 2013. As per the ministerial directives, the potable water usage in all central cooling plants was prohibited from January 2014.
The district cooling service department at Kahramaa enforces the implementation of ministerial directives and advises use of treated sewage effluent (TSE) for cooling tower makeup.