Sweden's ambassador to Qatar Eva Polano has hailed the strides being made by Qatar in the district cooling sector with the establishment of world class facilities and infrastructure in some of its upcoming residential and commercial developments.
The ambassador was addressing a panel discussion held as part of the International District Cooling and Heating
conference in Doha on Tuesday.
Recalling that she has seen the ambitious district cooling initiatives launched in Qatar in the last three years, Polono said that as the representative of a country that has contributed considerably to the development of such areas as district heating and cooling, she was happy that she could see some of the finest initiatives in Qatar.
While hoping that the world's largest capital cooling facility would be completed in Lusail city in 2021, Polona said her country is in a close partnership with those executing cooling projects in Qatar.
Sweden's ambassador to Qatar Eva Polona (right) speaking at a panel discussion on heating and cooling.
Reminding that Sweden is highly recognised across the world for its initiatives in the production and use of renewable energy sources, she recalled that Stockholm was the venue for the first major UN Conference on protection of the environment way back in 1972.
"Since then Sweden has been making a number of initiatives in such areas as renewable energies and earlier this year World Economic Forum has rated Sweden as number one in the attainment of its acclaimed sustainable development goals."
The envoy hoped there would be many developments in the district cooling sector in Qatar in coming years after the successful establishment of facilities in Lusail as they would contribute to better energy efficiency in the areas where such facilities serve.
Inquiries found the cooling systems in Lusail district would supply chilled water to end-users through an integrated network with a connected cooling of 500,000 tonnes of refrigeration by ultilising multiple chiller plants in Marina, Wadi, West and North.
This is arguably one of the largest district cooling systems in the world. The project involves a total of four main district cooling plants (DCP Marina, North, West and Wadi) with two possible additions (Lusail Stadium Plant and Medical Education City Plant).
John Dulan of the International Energy Agency and UN Celina Martinez were among others who spoke at the panel discussion.
Earlier, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) president and senior engineer Issa Hilal al-Kuwari delivered the keynote address.
HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada inaugurated the exhibition held along the sidelines of the event.