Empower delegation visits Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Corporation (TECO) in Texas

Empower delegation visits Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Corporation (TECO) in Texas

Empower was keen to benefit from TECO’s expertise in healthcare

Dubai, UAE, 6th February 2012: A senior delegation from Empower, the largest district cooling service provider in the MENA region, visited Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Corporation (TECO) in Texas, USA and held discussions with its senior officials as well as made a comprehensive tour in its plants, at the end of the Winter Conference of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), in Chicago recently.

The Empower delegation consisted of Tariq Alyasi, Chief Operations & Maintenance Officer and Sultan Al Holy, Director-Operations & Maintenance, and Moustapha Assayed, Senior Engineering Manager.

The aim of the visit was to share best practices in district cooling and heating industry and initiate efforts towards benchmarking the quality of operations in the district cooling industry in the Middle East.

The visit also aimed at knowledge sharing as well as discussing technology updates in the district cooling industry and the significance of district cooling services to critical segments such as the healthcare industry.

Ahmed Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, commented: “The visit was part of an initiative towards exploring the possibilities of sharing the best practices especially in areas of operations and maintenance of this promising company. We focused on their practices in manpower distribution, scheduling, preventive maintenance, continuity models, sustainable operations and maintenance programmes. Empower believes that knowledge-sharing and exchange of expertise will benefit both TECO and Empower to evolve best and cost-effective methods in district energy business.”

He added: “One of the prestigious customers of Empower is Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC), a state-of-the-art hub of healthcare providers and related establishments. Understanding and sharing best practices of TECO, the district cooling and heating provider of Texas Medical Center – a conclave of medical institutions and facilities, will benefit both organisations.”

Healthcare is very important when it comes to indoor temperature control. The customers in this segment should be able to easily monitor and control indoor temperature in medical facilities, so as to ensure quick and full recovery of the patients and preservation of the costly and sensitive equipments.

The discussions between TECO and Empower focused on market-implications and new trends in the district cooling industry.
TECO is a thermal Heating & Cooling Plant specifically catering to the requirements of Texas Medical Centre which is a conclave of medical institutions and facilities. The company’s plants supply service to 25 Texas Medical Center institutions in 42 buildings, which occupy approximately 13 million square feet of space, and represent over 75 percent of contiguous Texas Medical Center central campus building space. TECO is the only thermal system in the Texas Medical Center authorized to supply multi-institution services.

Empower is the largest District Cooling provider in the region. It provides energy-efficient district cooling services to Business Bay along other projects, including large-scale real estate developments such as Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Beach Residence and City Of Arabia.