The D anfoss ‘smart store’ is a functioning supermarket, providing the unique opportunity to understand how new technology will operate in the real world, while empowering the store managers to focus on their business while saving energy and costs. The store uses heating and cooling technology and automation solutions with payback times said t be less than 3-4 years.

The Application Development Centre within the smart store supermarket, which is part of a full Decarbonisation Park including several innovation centres for applications such as heat pumps, heat recovery, next-generation district heating networks, and data centres. The new Application Development Centre will offer the cooling and heating industry the opportunity to access state-of-the-art test facilities and expert support, for field testing new components and cloud technologies for both small and large applications.

Danfoss has built the smart store supermarket at its headquarters and it aims to 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 two refrigeration systems that run independently, ensuring that product testing does not interfere with the operations of the supermarket.

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 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 Jürgen Fischer, president of 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 occasion was celebrated with an open house event for Danfoss partners and customers who have contributed to the site. Peder Gabrielsen from the European Environment Agency offered a keynote speech where he 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.”