District cooling to bounce back in 2010

Father and son team Fahed and Aslan Al-Barazi from IMEC Electro Mechanical Engineering.

The district cooling industry 'practically halted and came to a complete dead end' in 2009, but 'it should move back in 2010'. This is the view of father-and-son team Fahed and Aslan Al-Barazi from IMEC Electro Mechanical Engineering.

“That being said, there are still some projects going on, and we are on top of that. That is very important. You obviously need to be winning orders at the same time,” comments Aslan. Another major issue is the increasing multinational nature of manufacturing conglomerates, which flood the market with cut-price products.

“Every company without exception is either wholly or partially manufacturing in China, India, Pakistan, Korea, Taiwan or Malaysia. For example, all horizontal split-case pumps used in district cooling in particular are made either in India or China,” argues Fahed. Such products are then shipped to the US and re-exported under different brand names, and at vastly increased prices.

“This is something that over the last ten years has turned the market upside down.

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Aslan comments that the basic principles underlying mechanical engineering have not changed over the years. “As a field it has not changed much since the 1960s, and very little in comparison to other sectors such as computer engineering. The greatest changes have been in increased efficiencies.”

Having said that, Fahed is of the firm opinion that the quality of mechanical engineering in the UAE is on a par with the US, and is certainly superior to that in Europe. “I can say without reservation that, apart from the US, we are unequalled.”

Aslan says this is because of the size and scope of the district cooling industry in the UAE, which has transformed itself into the biggest in the world. “The tonnages here are unheard of elsewhere. In the US, a big plant is 25 000 TR, whereas here it is 100 000 TR. Here they are constantly setting new design records. So if you want to be a district cooling design specialist, you really need to have acquired experience in the Middle East market.”

Another engineering challenge is the associated primary and secondary stage pumping involved. “You have to be a very competent engineer to lay out such systems, as you are taking water kilometres away from a central point,” adds Fahed.