- The geothermal wells produced hot water at temperatures exceeding 90oC and flow rates of approximately 100l/s.
- Hot water generated from the wells will be supplied to Tabreed’s district cooling network at Masdar City, accounting for 10 per cent of its cooling needs.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed) have announced a successful tapping of geothermal energy in the Gulf region’s first project. This followed the conclusion of testing two geothermal wells at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Currently, the cooling of buildings accounts for most of the United Arab Emirates’s (UAE) electricity consumption. The project, which would decarbonise the cooling of buildings in Masdar City, was facilitated by ADNOC’s initial $15 billion allocation towards low-carbon solutions.
District cooling provides a sustainable alternative to traditional cooling methods as it is about 50 per cent more energy efficient in its standard operations. Leveraging geothermal heat for district cooling operations has the potential to significantly reduce electricity demand for cooling from the grid, helping to decarbonise one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the region. The companies, in a statement, said the wells produced hot water at temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Celsius and flow rates of approximately 100 litres per second. They noted that the hot water generated by the heat from the wells will pass through an absorption cooling system to produce chilled water, which will then be supplied to Tabreed’s district cooling network at Masdar City, accounting for 10 per cent of its cooling needs.
Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC Executive Director for Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth, said: “Geothermal heat is a clean and renewable energy source abundantly available in the UAE and capable of providing baseload electricity. However, until now, it has remained an untapped source of energy. By leveraging technological advances, for the first time, ADNOC and Tabreed have unlocked this clean energy source to decarbonise one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the country.”
Last month, ADNOC, driving the country’s decarbonisation push, moved the deadline to reach net-zero emissions from its previous target of 2050 to 2045; meanwhile, the UAE’s National Energy Strategy 2050 aims to grow renewable energy capacity to 14 GW gigawatt by 2030.