Abu Dhabi-based district cooling provider, Tabreed has entered a strategic alliance with TATA Realty and Infrastructure Limited (TRIL) and will build its first district cooling transaction in India.
As the world’s most populous country and one of the fastest-growing economies, India will be a key strategic market and important partner for Tabreed as it expands its international presence.
India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change forecasts that aggregated cooling demand will rise eightfold by 2037-38, with cooling expected to account for 45 percent of peak energy demand across the country by 2050.
Tabreed will invest ₹100 crore ($12.07 million) in TATA Realty’s Intellion Park Special Economic Zone (SEZ) development in Gurugram, a satellite city of the Indian capital New Delhi. Tabreed will acquire the existing cooling infrastructure at Intellion Park, which covers a total area of 3.5 million square feet, and develop additional capacity to meet the development’s rising demand for cooling services.
Standard market practice in India is for the real estate developers to own and operate cooling assets through facility management contracts, but the deal moves away from this and Tabreed will provide cost-effective and efficient cooling solutions for tenants of Intellion Park.
Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Tabreed, said: “We expect to see large-scale adoption of district cooling in India as demand for real estate and cooling grows at a rapid pace. Tabreed is delighted to partner with Tata Realty to develop leading, innovative district cooling services, which will support sustainable urban development across India.
“This will unlock value for our stakeholders, while benefitting communities and reducing carbon emissions.”
India established the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) in 2019 to support the growth of a sustainable district cooling sector across the country and developers are currently allocating significant sums of capital on HVAC systems for new buildings, while competing with and balancing other demands on their capex.
Tabreed’s expertise expands to India
Through demonstrating the value of cooling services at Intellion Park, Tabreed intends to pave the way for more rapid adoption of district cooling in India, easing the burden of upfront costs for developers to inspire more sustainable cooling solutions for the real estate sector, which is set to witness its fastest global increase in cooling-related energy demand in the coming decades.
Sanjay Dutt, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Realty said: “Tata Realty has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable real estate development in India. With numerous achievements, including the country’s first net-zero certified commercial real estate campus, the company has set a high bar for the rest of the industry.
“In continuation of this trend, Tata Realty’s engagement with Tabreed to launch the Cooling as a Service (CaaS) market in India is expected to be a pivotal event, enabling the delivery of superior value to occupants, while promoting higher standards of ESG and wellness in commercial and mixed-use real estate developments.”
Tabreed provides essential and sustainable district cooling services to iconic developments across the Middle East such as the Burj Khalifa, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Ferrari World, Emirates Towers, Yas Island, Al Maryah Island, The Dubai Mall, Dubai Opera, Dubai Metro, Bahrain Financial Harbour and the Jabal Omar Development in the Holy City of Makkah.
Founded in 1998 and listed on the Dubai Financial Market, the company owns and operates 86 plants in its portfolio across the GCC, including 75 in the United Arab Emirates, three in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, seven in Oman and one in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Tata Realty is a 100 percent subsidiary of Tata Sons and one of the leading real estate development companies in India with an extensive portfolio of over 50 projects across 15 cities. It has developed over 16.8 million sq. ft. of commercial projects and has nearly 16.7 million sq. ft. of projects under development and planning.
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