Danfoss has recently opened its Application Development Center within the ‘Smart Store’ supermarket, which is part of a full Decarbonization Park which includes several innovation centers for applications such as heat pumps, heat recovery, next generation district heating networks, and data centers.
The new Application Development Center, located near its headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark will offer the cooling and heating industry the opportunity to access state-of-the-art test facilities and expert support, for field testing components and cloud technologies for both small and large applications.
Sustainable food retail
Danfoss has created a new Smart Store supermarket at its headquarters that will lead the way for climate-friendly food retail with energy-efficient heating and cooling technologies. The store is expected to be 50% more energy efficient than a traditional store, and 90% of the space heating needs for the entire store will be provided by a heat recovery unit that captures excess heat produced by the cooling systems. The supermarket has 2 refrigeration systems that run independently, ensuring that product testing does not interfere with the operations of the supermarket.
Energy as a Service: Saving energy while decreasing upfront costs.
Refrigeration is a delicate balance. If you use too much cooling you waste energy, if you use too little you risk food loss. With smart controls and digital monitoring, retailers can optimise capacity and demand, allowing them to respond to anomalies in a timely manner preventing energy and food losses.
The store will be managed by Danfoss and ANEO Retail’s partnership, and their unique service model, ‘Energy as a service (EaaS)’, which allows grocery stores to subscribe to technical facilities as a service, reducing their operational expenses and time spent on issue management.
The concept allows supermarkets to implement the most energy-efficient equipment without large investments and high up-front costs. The store’s refrigeration and comfort cooling systems run exclusively on natural refrigerants (CO2), which have the lowest possible global warming potential score.
“The new ‘Smart Store’ showcases the incredible possibilities we have ready today with existing solutions for natural refrigerants, energy efficiency, and sourcing renewables – all in one installation,” said Jurgen Fischer, President Danfoss Climate Solutions. “We are proud to officially welcome customers and partners to the Application Development Center today, to take the next steps together to reimagine the future and develop new heating and cooling technologies that pave the way towards zero emission food retail.”
The special opening ceremony was celebrated with the presence of Danfoss partners and customers who have contributed to the site. Peder Gabrielsen from the European Environment Agency who attended the event said, “With the fluorinated gas (F-gas) Regulation in Europe, we are seeing a reduction of F-gas emissions and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is driving the refrigerant transition at a global level. The example we see here today is a good example of movement in the right direction. When energy efficiency and low global warming potential refrigerants work in tandem, we can vastly cut emissions from heating and cooling. The need to use energy more efficiently and to reduce costs is constantly growing. Innovation like what we see here has a key role to play in finding the best solutions.”
Interested parties can now contact Danfoss directly to schedule their own site visit. The Danfoss ‘Smart Store’ is a functioning supermarket offering visitors unique opportunity to understand how new technology will operate in the real world.
