The Palace in Deira is a 20-year-old residential tower with 42 apartments. The existing air cooled chillers were outdated and inefficient. Taqeef retrofitted the building with a Variant Refrigerant Flow system.
Three air cooled chillers and plant were replaced with a VRF system to cater for the individual apartments and common areas. Through careful design and planning, Taqeef were able to complete the new system upgrade while the old chiller system was still operational. This kept costs and disruption to a minimum, allowed residents to safely remain in the building throughout the retrofit, and reduced the need for any additional fit-out costs.
The installation of multiple indoor Fan Coil Units (FCU) for each apartment – instead of the single indoor units used for the chiller system – provided greater control flexibility. As a result, the new system operates largely at part load, delivering significant and immediate energy savings.
EMS accredited independent auditors concluded The Palace retrofit delivered a 66% reduction in energy consumption within the first year of installation, and savings of almost 400,000 DHS. The annual chiller consumption of 595,065 AED fell to 202,657 AED under the VRF system.
