TN looking at alternatives to ACs to cut down on power consumption

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:
The rising power consumption during the summer and the sudden rise in temperature is forcing the state  to look at alternative solutions like district cooling, a centralised source which could provide cooling to entire building through pipelines.

State Planning Commission is preparing a feasibility report on district cooling in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme.  It is learnt that a road map for district cooling solutions in the state is being prepared along with the Industries department and Department of Environment and Energy.

This could mean that flats and homes in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, which has electricity meter and water meter, could soon have cooling meters where in the tariffs will have a fixed demand charge.

The working principle of a district cooling system is a centralized chilling plant which produces chilled water. The chilled water is transferred to various buildings or facilities through an underground network of insulated pipes. A control system regulates the temperature of the chilled water produced by the chilling plant and monitors the flow rate of the water through the distribution network.

By adopting a district cooling system, multiple buildings or facilities can share the cost of a centralized chilling plant, resulting in significant energy and cost savings, says Sudheer Perla,  Country Head, Tabreed India, on the integration of district cooling in Chennai’s climate action plan.

Interestingly, Tabreed has been a long term partner with UNEP for the last eight years in India, is vying to partner with the state in offering district cooling services. "The initial investment is high for setting up the district cooling system, which includes the underground pipeline network similar to city gas distribution," says Perla. The focus currently is to use the technology for the industrial parks, which Sipcot is setting up, he adds.

Though the penetration of air conditioners in India is around 9%, it is expected to grow to 30% in next 10 years. Currently, Chennai, one of India's largest and most populous cities, consumes almost 13,000 GW per hour of electricity, which is 14 per cent of the total power generated and purchased by Tangedco. The growth in air conditioners would put enormous stress on the energy requirements and technology like District Cooling offers nearly 40 to 50% savings for the air conditioning load, says Perla.

Perla says that the masterplans of the cities should now include district cooling to cut down on power consumption as cooling  is also linked to human health and productivity.