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Dubai: Sharjah, which was the first and remains the only emirate to have its own liquid gas distribution system to supply household and industrial facilities in the city, will soon have a modern district cooling system in select areas.
"The residents of Al Khan and Al Mamzar area will have a hassle-free air-conditioning service with minimal air and noise pollution, thanks to the district cooling project which was approved by the government," Ebrahim Rashid Al Deemas, Deputy Director-General for Technical Affairs at Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (Sewa) said.
Al Deemas told Gulf News, environmental concerns had become a top priority for any Sewa project.
"We are planning to generate power through environmentally-clean methods including the use of windmills and solar generators. A global consultant was appointed to conduct the feasibility study to generate renewable power and decide the locations of such stations."
He said solar and wind power stations are being considered in remote villages and deserted settlements, where the erection of power supply lines is a technical problem.
"Clean renewable sources of energy will constitute 10 per cent of total power needs by the end of 2015."
"The UAE is planning to produce 20 to 30 per cent of the total power needs from nuclear facilities in the country while the rest will come from conventional fuel stations," he said.
Gulf News: Power has become costlier in the emirate and the new slab system was introduced in March this year in addition to fixed meter fees. Both have resulted in a considerable hike of utility bills for residents in Sharjah. Why does the country have to charge more for electricity when fuel is abundant?
Ebrahim Rashid Al Deemas: The slab system was introduced to rationalise the way we use electricity. Sewa and other electricity producers in the country are still charging much less than the actual cost of production.
The slab system was meant to educate consumers about environmental issues concerning the irrational consumption of electricity and to reduce losses incurred by Sewa.
Regarding the hike of meter fees from Dh5 to Dh30 for electricity and Dh20 for both water and gas, Sewa said the hike came along with the cancellation of maintenance fees on transformers and damaged meters.
In all, we encourage people to use less electricity and water because production has become very costly, especially with soaring oil prices.
The new pricing system was introduced four months ago, have you noticed a change in consumption habits?
Sure yes. We have noticed a decline in consumption by around nine per cent and we are expecting more in the coming months. Frankly speaking, we consume electricity and water much more than we need to. Sewa's message to its subscribers is don't spend for what you don't need.
Don't you think that people need to see a leadership that believes in rational use of power? Your building, for instance does not convey the rational consumption message. Rooms and corridors are lit with hundreds of lights during the day. How can you convince people to do what you don't?
I agree with you and overuse of lighting is a cultural problem. We are aware of it and have appointed a consultant to see where we can reduce the electricity consumed in lighting.
What about commercial and residential towers, there is huge waste of power for lighting in these buildings, are you planning to intervene?
We are very strict on the issue of thermal insulation and we are planning to set rules for lighting of shared places and public areas. We need to assume this role after we see a good response from members of the public towards saving programmes.
I think the signs are very encouraging. We encourage landlords and owners of buildings to fix automatic devices to switch off lights when there is no need for them and they might become compulsory after some time, as well as using light fixtures that save energy.
The problem is that consumption of power in lighting, where we tend to overspend, is just a fraction of what we spend on air-conditioning. What is your plan to reduce the air cooling bill?
Even using remote controls to turn our home appliances on and off while they are kept in the working position forms a considerable waste of energy. We have to look around us and try to reduce our consumption of power whenever this is possible.
I agree that air-conditioning equipment is consuming the biggest chunk of our power production. Sewa is working in two directions to reduce the consumption of power in A/Cs.
Firstly, Sewa has been enforcing an advanced thermal insulation system in construction while initiating a pioneering project for district cooling stations to be located in modern areas of the city. For the time being, cooling centres cannot cover the whole city because they require a huge underground piping network that is not possible in the old city.
We are planning to have two district cooling stations in Al Khan and Al Mamzar. A special section has been set up within Sewa to handle the project. The district cooling means less power is needed to cool domestic air, less noise and almost free maintenance.
You are blamed for not coping with the pace of development in Sharjah. Investors complain about delays in connecting electricity to their buildings, why has Sewa failed to develop its production capacity needed for the market?
We have a clear strategy which we are enforcing. Top priority should be given to ensure power supplies for existing subscribers while allowing a growth between 8 to 10 per cent in the city which is almost double the rate of growth in other parts of the world.
We don't see that the current demand of 18 to 20 per cent of growth is healthy and we are not going to allow such a rate of growth in Sharjah.
Regarding real estate development, prior to the start of construction and while in the design stage, we inform investors that Sewa will be able to connect power to their buildings by a fixed date and it is up to them to plan the construction work.
We are planning to double the existing power production through a multi-billion expansion project at Al Hamriya Power Station. We are in the process of selecting the contractor and expansion work will start soon. We will try to maintain 20 per cent spare capacity to be used in cases of emergencies.
We will not constrain our system which might result in disruption of power supplies. The national grid system has given every emirate the confidence to ensure continuity of power supplies, but at the same time placed on every subscriber to the grid the responsibility not to stretch the system .
Sharjah has three power stations in Layyah, Wasit and Hamriay with a total production capacity of 2300 MW including 800, 900 and 400 MW respectively. The rest is produced by other smaller stations for Kalba and Khorfakkan.
The future expansion in power production will come mainly from Hamriya, whose capacity alone will become 2700 MW in 2020. In 2007, Sharjah consumed 1557 MW of which was distributed to 216,000 subscribers in addition to 99 million gallons of water. There are 104,000 natural gas connections including 20,000 for industrial use and the rest for household use.
What do you think about the future of energy production in the region?
I think big challenges are lying ahead of us and elsewhere in the UAE and the GCC, which we have to be prepared for. The main quest is how to consume minimum energy while maintaining a high standard of living.
Sewa capitalises a lot on education in schools. We want people to believe in saving energy instead of abusing it. People start to believe in the concept and slowly, slowly we will see changes in behaviour.
We cannot impose a unified lighting system in buildings, but engineers who design lighting and air-conditioning systems and those who select them must bear in mind that producing power is costly, both financially and environmentally and that is a good reason to save it.
I think the region will rely more and more on renewable sources of energy and on nuclear energy but this will not permit us to waste power because building renewable energy stations is too costly.
Profile: Ebrahim Rashid Al Deemas
Born in Sharjah in 1969. He earned his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from UAE University in 1992.
He joined Sewa in August 1992 and became Assistant Director-General for Technical Affairs in 2007.
He is married with four children. He is a strong advocate of energy efficiency and believes the younger generation will make the difference.
Are you an eco-friendly person? What are your best practices? Will this move encourage you reduce your consumptiuon of electricity? Share your views at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form below to send your comments.
Your comments
The authorities being more resourceful and more responsible shall spread awareness, for the conservation of, not only energy resources like electricity, water and gas but also to conserve organic products. Use of modern technology shall be encouraged to help us conserve electricity, water and gas, disconnecting automatically, when not in use. This should be made mandatory through the respective building control authorities and Green Building Council in UAE.
Humayun
Sharja,UAE
Posted: July 13, 2008, 12:13
This article is really worth, this will give an insight to all readers, give information through posters and media to people for the awareness of energy savings,
surendran
sharjah,UAE
Posted: July 13, 2008, 09:11
District cooling as far as i know is still on papers only if it is going to implement then it will Big relieve for all consumers, engrs and sewa itself.
M.F.Khan
Marakash,Maracoo
Posted: July 13, 2008, 06:52
Its with great pleasure and utmost respect to Mr.Ibrahim strategy and thinking in preserving the energy. This is one of the best projects and initiatives I think the region have ever done considered in preserving the energy and at the same serving with excellence.I hope this inshAllah will set step to all GCC countries and probably the GCC Council set this as one of their top initiatives. Good luck to Sharjah Govt. and hopefully this will be implemented in all Areas and all GCC in the near future.
Fahad
Riyadh,Saudi ARABIA
Posted: July 13, 2008, 03:02
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