Saudi Arabia's National Energy Services Company (Tarshid) has announced that it has successfully completed the second phase of an energy efficiency retrofit project at the Islamic University of Madinah, covering 43 buildings and facilities.

The project included upgrades to cooling, air conditioning and lighting systems aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing electricity consumption, said Tarshid in a statement.

The Saudi energy services company said the retrofit introduced 15 energy efficiency measures, including the replacement of existing chillers, pumps and air conditioning units with higher-efficiency equipment in addition to the installation of variable frequency drives and advanced control systems, and the replacement of conventional lighting with LED fixtures and occupancy sensors.

On the key achievement, CEO Waled bin Abdullah Al Ghreri said technical assessments carried out before the project identified significant opportunities to improve energy efficiency across the university's facilities.

With the project completion, the university's annual electricity consumption is set to go down by about 26 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) from approximately 39 million kWh, representing an estimated energy saving of 33%.

The projected energy savings will be equivalent to conserving more than 21,000 barrels of oil annually or planting around 124,000 seedlings per annum, noted Al Ghreri.

Established in 2017, Tarshid is Saudi Arabia's state-backed energy services company and undertakes energy efficiency projects across government and commercial sectors as part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 programme.