The Middle East district cooling market is being seen by the US as a potential export arena, according to US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke.
Locke was speaking at the second day of the International District Energy Association (IDEA) annual conference in Washington DC, where he presented the US Department of Commerce’s Export Achievement award to Evapco for its work in district cooling and ice storage in China.
The department had already helped several US companies to win work in these areas, said Locke, adding that the fundamentals of district energy were as applicable in the Middle East and China, for example, as they were in the US.
However, this did not indicate that the US market for district energy was not itself healthy, pointed out Locke. District energy in the US has grown every year since 1990, said IDEA President Robert Thornton, with 130 new buildings connected in 2008 alone, with the largest number in New York (18 buildings connected), Minneapolis (7), Philadelphia (12) and Detroit (5).
But these figures are put into context by data from the Middle East. According to IDEA, projects in the UAE and Qatar connected slightly more than 3 000 buildings in 2008, including what is thought to be the largest district cooling system in the world, at The Pearl in Qatar, which is expected to serve 73 million square feet of space with 130 000 TR of cooling.
“Whether the data for the US or the Middle East for 2009 will show a rise for yet another year will only be revealed this time next year,” said Thornton.
IDEA its celebrating its 100th annual conference and trade show in Washington DC.
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