UAE District Cooling Market size is projected to witness significant growth from 2021 to 2027 impelled by rising infrastructural spending, growing focus toward adoption of sustainable technologies and extreme climatic conditions. District cooling is acknowledged as centralized energy generation along with distribution system which delivers required cooling air to multiple buildings through underground chilled water pipelines. Increasing focus toward deployment of sustainable technologies along with growing requirement of efficient DC stations as a result of extreme weather conditions will sway the market scenario.

UAE Market, By Production Technique

Stringent government policies and reforms to deploy advanced & efficient DC systems will complement the industry outlook. Ongoing technological advancements to minimize the operational, maintenance and refurbishment cost of cooling plant coupled with enhancement of tonne of refrigeration across existing plant capacity will drive the product penetration. Furthermore, ability of electric chiller’s production technique to provide high centralized cooling power and high performance when associated with commercial and residential air-conditioning units will boost the technology demand.

UAE Market, By Application

Residential district cooling market will register an upsurge through 2027 owing to strong project pipeline coupled with ongoing investments toward expansion of DC plants. For instance, in 2020, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) completed the new district cooling plant situated in Za’beel, UAE. This new plant consists of 50,000 RT cooling. The existing cooling plant in DIFC will be interconnected to the new plant in Za’beel which will increase the total capacity of both plants to 112,000 RT. Growing urbanization as well as escalating energy prices will stimulate the deployment of DC plants across the residential premises. Moreover, ease of maintenance followed by optimized system design to preserve water will enhance the technology adoption.

Paradigm shift toward strategic partnerships and agreement across the region by major industry players have infused a positive glance. Additionally, domestic participants have initiated toward expansion of existing cooling plants which in turn will foster the market expansion. In 2020, National Central Cooling Company signed a partnership agreement with Bee’ah, a leading sustainability pioneer company across UAE. Under this agreement, the companies will develop large-scale district cooling projects in the Emirate of Sharjah. These agreements will enhance and expand the total generation capacity and improve the technology across the market.

The industry has witnessed no or minimal impact of COVID-19 owing to strong projects pipeline along with a positive scenario toward future potential. Industry has observed no delay in projects during the pandemic. However, rising demand for cooling generation sources coupled with increasing contractual agreements to develop district cooling plants will complement the market outlook.

Competitive Industry Landscape

Eminent players operating across the UAE District Cooling industry include Delta District Cooling Services, National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed), Veolia, Empower, Emicool, Siemens, and ARANER, amongst others.

Leading manufacturers across industry are concentrating on the substantial allocation of innovation & research funds to advance their business scenario. Major strategies adopted by the key players are technical partnerships, acquisitions, inorganic development as well as product portfolios.