Certificate of Merit | Out of the Box
In light of the global sustainable development goals and the need for islands resilience and economic development, it is essential that the deep seawater based cooling developments like Zakito District Cooling are accelerated. The realization of the Zakito District Cooling project, will unlock this huge potential of district cooling and related Deep Seawater Industry projects on Curacao and in the Caribbean, a market potential estimated at ca. USD 1.0-2.0 billion. Zakito District Cooling intends to connect all suitable buildings in the Rif and Zakito area on Curacao like the Dreams resort, WTC Curaçao, the Curaçao Medical Center and the Renaissance hotel. It uses seawater from 850m deep (ca 5C) for the direct cooling of buildings, reducing CO2 emissions with 96% and eliminating the need for HCFC’s (R22) and HFC’s (R134A), at much cheaper cost the clients. The investment of ca USD 50M in Zakito District Cooling will, beside a macroeconomic (foreign exchange) savings of ca USD 4M annually, open the potential of a new economic pillar for the island with 400-600 new jobs and a direct and indirect economic impact of ca USD 100M annually. The current crisis however obstructs the international and local financing institutions to commit to the Zakito District Cooling project, due to the temporary collapse of the hospitality industry. As soon as additional risk coverage (like a temporarily bridge facility/guarantee) has been arranged construction will start.
