Sorouh DevelopmentsChiller Plant DesignAl Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Project award - November 2007Chiller plant design completed - January 2008First plant construction completed - Second Quarter 2009Additional plant construction - To be determined
The Gulf Region is experiencing an unparalleled real estate development boom, and with it, unprecedented demand for air conditioning. The Shams Abu Dhabi development in the United Arab Emirates is a case in point. This $6.9 billion development on lush, green Al Reem Island will soon be home to 55,000 people; 100 skyscrapers; 22,000 residential housing units; retail and social facilities; and a 10.8 million-sq-ft park. With district cooling now the region's preferred building cooling method, Sorouh turned to WM Group to create design and construction documents for the design-build construction of three 40,000-ton chilled-water plants to serve this premier development. Although primary-secondary pumping is used almost exclusively in the UAE, WM Group had a better solution in mind: a variable-volume primary pumping system.
In preparing its designs for each of these plants, WM Group included a total of eight ‘chiller modules' consisting of two 2,500-ton dual-compressor chillers in series - or 16 2,500-ton chillers in all. Connected by a common distribution system, each plant has an eight-cell, field-erected rooftop cooling tower designed to operate in the dusty desert environment. WM Group devised a variable-volume pumping system - unique for the UAE - that saves energy and enables the different plants to be easily interconnected in a virtual central system. WM Group's designs for these plants also encompassed ventilation, plumbing, fire protection, domestic water and fire alarm systems.