Telangana partners with Tabreed to host Asia’s largest District Cooling Project

Tabreed’s $200 million investment to develop 125,000 Refrigeration Tons (RT) of cooling infrastructure for Hyderabad Pharma City can bring potential savings of 24 Million Tons of CO2, elevating Hyderabad’s status as a premier Asian city for living and working.

The Telangana government has joined forces with Tabreed, a cooling utilities company, to develop the cooling infrastructure in India’s industrial and commercial zones. With the granting of Asia’s most extensive district cooling Public-Private Partnership project for Hyderabad Pharma City (HPC), Tabreed will create 125,000 refrigeration tons (RT) of district cooling facilities and networks. This endeavour involves an investment of up to $200 million. It aims to offer sustainable, long-term cooling solutions through a utility-based “cooling as a service” model for industrial units’ process cooling and storage needs.

The first-of-its-kind initiative will bring multi-fold benefits through the integration of highly reliable solutions, superior cost-efficiency, and unprecedented economies of scale, resulting in 6,800 GWh of power savings and 41,600 mega litres of water savings and paving the way for reduced greenhouse gas emissions by saving 6.2 million tons of CO2 over the project lifetime. This pioneering endeavour is set to revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry’s cooling practices, contributing to a cleaner and greener environment for various bulk drug manufacturing facilities.

The government of Telangana also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tabreed to explore district cooling infrastructure in existing and upcoming commercial districts of Cyberabad and other mixed-use development areas, which offer the potential to reduce over 200 MW of peak electricity demand, resulting in CO2 reduction of 18 million tons over 30 years while mitigating heat island effect that will further bolster Hyderabad’s position as one of the best cities to live and work in Asia.

Sudheer Perla, Country Head, Tabreed India said, “Meeting our cooling demand through solutions that foster responsible and reduced energy consumption has emerged as a key priority in efforts to meet energy transition, security or sustainability goals for India, as is evidenced by the recent launch of District Cooling Guidelines by the Ministry of Power through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. We are thrilled to be leading this transformation with the Government of Telangana. Through this MoU, we aim to showcase the benefits of district cooling to drive sustainable infrastructure development in the region and contribute to Telangana’s vision of becoming a model for eco-friendly urbanisation.”

Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Tabreed, said, “The collaboration between Tabreed and the Government of Telangana represents a watershed moment in the evolution of sustainable infrastructure development. By bringing our expertise in district cooling to the world’s largest net zero pharmaceutical cluster, we are shaping the future of the industrial clusters and setting a powerful precedent for environmental responsibility. Large-scale energy consumption towards cooling is one of the key drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. Through this joint undertaking with the Government of Telangana, Tabreed is proud to contribute to India’s journey in achieving Net Zero emissions, with Telangana at the forefront”.

K.T Rama Rao (KTR), Minister for Urban Development, Industries & Commerce and Information Technology for the State of Telangana, remarked by prioritising cooling as a key action area through cool roof policies and energy-efficient district cooling, we are shaping a greener and healthier environment for our communities by contributing significantly to our ambitious vision of making Telangana net-zero by 2047