Page 14 - RSB Annual Report 2020 English

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REVIEW ⁞ The regime always envisaged independent water production but it was heartening to see the first project of this type awarded in 2020. The combination of solar power production and reverse osmosis desalination is set to overturn the cogeneration with thermal desalination model that has dominated Gulf power and water systems for decades. The world-leading tariff for the Hassyan RO plant was ample demonstration of this paradigm shift. ⁞ There was an inevitability to the slowdown in retrofit activity we saw in 2020. Facilities became harder to access and businesses understandably showed hesitation in committing to new projects. Nevertheless, the private ESCO market held up well in the circumstances and a new focus on ventilation quality may bode well for activity in 2021 and beyond. ⁞ One example of effective working despite the pandemic’s impact was the development of our accreditation scheme for facility managers. We organised successful stakeholder consultations online and achieved endorsement of the scheme by the Supreme Council of Energy within a year of kicking off the initiative. ⁞ This new initiative sits alongside our existing activity in the district cooling market, jointly delivering savings under the efficient cooling DSM programme. District cooling had a good year, further increasing its share of the cooling market and delivering noteworthy improvements in energy efficiency. The newly-created association of district cooling operators holds out the prospect of a more coordinated approach to developing the district cooling market. 14 RSB