Tata Realty and Tabreed announce first alliance for CaaS transaction

Tata Realty has signed an agreement with Tabreed, a global cooling utility player to install cooling infrastructure at its commercial complex- Intellion Park in Gurugram, Haryana. The project  marks Tabreed’s first Cooling as a Service (CaaS) transaction in India with an investment of approximately Rs 100 crore for a 30-year time period, the company said in a statement.

Tabreed will acquire Intellion Park’s existing cooling infrastructure, a 3.5 million square feet IT SEZ development in Gurugram and will undertake greenfield expansion to increase its cooling capacity. 

“Moving away from the regular market practice wherein real estate developers own and operate their cooling assets through facility management arrangements, through this first of its kind transaction, It would provide long-term, SLA-based cooling services to Intellion Park with well-defined parameters to improve energy efficiency, asset longevity, system reliability and reduce life cycle costs of cooling for tenants,” Tabreed said.

It is expected that the transaction will result in Tabreed serving as a provider of cooling services for TATA Realty, offering district cooling or CaaS concessions across its commercial properties. 

“Tata Realty has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable real estate development in India. With numerous achievements, including the country's first net-zero certified commercial real estate campus, the company has set a high bar for the rest of the industry,” said Sanjay Dutt, MD & CEO, Tata Realty.

TATA realty has developed 16.8 million square feet of commercial projects and has 16.7 million square feet of projects under development & planning. 

The company’s endeavour is to enable the delivery of superior value to occupants, while promoting higher standards of ESG and wellness in commercial and mixed-use real estate developments, Dutt said.

The India cooling action plan (ICAP) announced by the ozone cell of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change forecasted eightfold increase in aggregated cooling demand for the country by 2037-38, with 45 per cent of the country’s peak energy demand likely to be for cooling by 2050.

“Long-term, green financing delivered through innovative and bespoke business models such as CaaS will play a crucial role in scaling up the transition to a greener economy, especially for the built environment,” said Sudheer Perla, country manager, Tabreed India.

Currently, developers are allocating huge sums of capital on Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for new buildings as well as highly-inefficient existing buildings to achieve their net zero goals, all whilst competing with and balancing other demands on their capex, Perla added.

National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed) provides essential and sustainable district cooling services to iconic developments including the Burj Khalifa, Sheikh Zayed and Emirates Towers.The company owns and operates 86 plants in its portfolio across the Gulf Cooperation Council including 75 in the United Arab Emirates, three in Saudi Arabia, seven in Oman and one in Bahrain. 

Tabreed was founded in 1998 and is publicly listed on the Dubai Financial Market.

Tabreed Asia is a joint venture owned by Tabreed UAE (75 per cent) and International Finance Corporation (25 per cent) with headquarters in Singapore. Set-up as a holding company, Tabreed Asia, through wholly owned subsidiaries in India, invests, builds, owns and operates cooling assets through long-term partnerships with leading real estate developers to provide more cost effective and sustainable, environmentally friendly cooling services.