The district cooling plants for Bay La Sun Village, Emaar’s prestigious project in King Abdullah Economic City, will use sea water to cool buildings in the residential complex.

This is a sustainable response to the rising water shortage in Saudi Arabia, said a statement.

DC PRO Engineering, a leading UAE-based electro-mechanical consultancy firm, will design the district cooling (DC) plants that apply the ultra-environment friendly technology of sea water cooling, it said.

The scope of the project encompasses designing of two DC plant rooms with thermal storage tanks for optimum energy efficiency of total capacity 80,000 tons of refrigeration to be strategically positioned within the development. The proposed District Cooling project is to be completed in phases over a period of three to five years and the commissioning of the first phase of the plant room is expected in early 2010.

DC PRO Engineering will design the district cooling plants to produce their own water demand. A huge water make-up volume will be required on a daily basis especially during summer when load conditions are at peak due to evaporation and blow-down from the cooling towers used for refrigerant heat rejection in the process. This will be done via beach wells built adjacent to the plant rooms.

The two-stage Sea Water Reverse Osmosis plant built in each plant’s basement level will be capable of providing a total of 14,000 m³ treated water supply for cooling tower make-up. The reject from the treatment plants and cooling towers will be discharged to the nearby sea via an underground HDPE piping network which will be laid during the project’s infrastructure works.

DC PRO Engineering will conduct an environmental impact assessment of the district cooling plant and waste water to study and assess all emissions from the plant room, advise on any environmental adverse effects and ensure compliance with international standards, the statement said.

George Berbari, CEO of DC PRO engineering, commented: “We are excited about this opportunity to develop the blue-print for Emaar’s turnkey project and to leverage our expertise and experience in delivering sustainable and eco-friendly district cooling plant designs for similar large-scale developments in the region. We believe that this state-of-the-art design will blend well into the architectural style of the Bay La Sun Village and also meet our objective to provide high-quality, consistent and reliable cooling to the residents.”  

“The fundamental idea of sea water district cooling is to utilize locally and naturally available resources that would otherwise be wasted. District cooling in itself is an eco-friendly and efficient way of cooling in comparison to conventional air-conditioning and brings considerable savings in energy and power consumption. Now with this innovative sea water cooling technology, district cooling which relies on local renewables as alternative resources of energy becomes further efficient and creates a win-win situation benefiting both the consumer and the environment,” Berbari added.

Meanwhile, an invitation to tender has been issued for Phase I of the Distribution Network Project the laying of a 20-km piping network of pre-insulated steel or HDPE (High Density Poly-Ethylene) to ensure an uninterrupted supply of chilled water from the DC plants to the buildings within the Bay La Sun complex.

Bay La Sun is a fully integrated residential community located within the Residential District of King Abdullah Economic City, directly overlooking the Red Sea. Bay La Sun Village will offer residents a host of amenities including retail outlets, leisure facilities, schools, mosques, medical centres and community areas.

Earlier in June 2008, City Cool was awarded with an Dh630 million contract to provide district cooling and energy systems for the Bay La Sun development by Emaar The Economic City (Emaar E.