A higher level

Sujit Pahar, CEO, Tabreed

MEP Middle East speaks exclusively to Tabreed’s new CEO, Sujit S. Parhar, about his plans to take the district cooling provider to the next level.

Parhar has 11 years’ experience in the utilities and infrastructure sectors in Singapore. Prior to his latest appointment, he worked for SembCorp Industries, a Singapore-based utilities company, where he was senior vice-president and head of regional business development.

“This is an exciting time to be joining Tabreed. District cooling is an essential utility for the delivery of the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision, and Tabreed is committed to playing a vital role in the Emirate’s growth.

This year we expect to deliver an additional seven new plants in Abu Dhabi alone,” says Parhar.

“In terms of utilities in the region as a whole, we are the only player with the track record and branding that we have. We are not here trying our hand at building a new business. We are strengthening the management team to gear up for the next chapter of Tabreed, which is to deliver the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision, and I think investors are beginning to get that message.”

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Installed capacity

Tabreed will have to increase its current installed capacity of about 300 000 TR fivefold in order to meet the requirements of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Vision. “We are part of Abu Dhabi, and are committed to its 2030 Vision. We are going to be here for a very long time delivering on that objective,” says Parhar.

Tabreed has 34 district cooling plants in operation at present, and is commissioning a further 16 this year. “Business is good, and we foresee growth within the next 15 years that is going to be quite demanding on us. For the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision to be realised, you are looking at an estimated additional 1,5 million tons of refrigeration capacity in terms of district cooling,” says Parhar.

“We have seen a bit of a slowdown in terms of developers holding back developments, but as of the last couple of months, it has picked up again. We have seen developers looking at district cooling for new developments. The good thing about Tabreed is that people know we deliver, and that our plants are reliable and efficient, so to a certain extent we are the supplier of choice. And then there is the peace of mind derived from the reliability factor – each of our plants today has been designed to store about 75% of the day’s water in the plant itself, so even if the water supply goes down, they can still operate and render a service.

Synonymous

“An interesting thing when I was developing a district cooling plant about a year ago for my previous company, my clients would not stop saying that they ‘wanted Tabreed’ in terms of district cooling. It has become synonymous with the industry as a whole. We have gotten very good mileage out of our track record of always delivering on-time.

“I think we have had a reliability factor of 99,9%, and the only reason we had the 0,1% shortfall was because we had a power outage in the entire city of Dubai. Other than that we have had no issues with reliability, as you would normally have with lesser-designed equipment,” says Parhar.

“One of the things the board is focusing on now is strengthening the management team, and inculcating an investor-class management style for an utilities business. All utilities businesses around the world are synonymous with stable, recurring, long-term efforts. Maybe Tabreed has not been portrayed as an utilities company, so we are focusing on creating awareness with current and potential investors,” comments Parhar.

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