International. Danfoss hosted the opening ceremony for the construction of one of the most energy-efficient supermarkets in the world. The Smart Store supermarket will be filled with the latest and most efficient cooling and heating technology.
The state-of-the-art supermarket is located right next to the Danfoss headquarters and will pave the way for how supermarket chains around the world can build sustainable and environmentally friendly stores with technologies that already exist today.
Instead of allowing the heat produced by refrigeration cabinets and freezers to be wasted, it will be captured and reused to provide heating to the supermarket and local community through district energy. The refrigeration system of the new supermarket will also work with carbon dioxide.
Kristian Strand, President, Refrigeration and A/C Controls, Danfoss Climate Solutions said: "The origins of this project go back a long time, but the new energy-efficient Smart Store supermarket we are starting to build has only grown in relevance. The aim of the project is to show how easy and cost-effective it is to decarbonise our economy and ensure reliable and sustainable energy use. Heating and cooling are the biggest consumers of energy in supermarkets. The solutions we are building here today represent the core of Danfoss' solutions and will show how we can jointly address zero energy use in food retail."
In addition, this site will serve as an Application Development Center where Danfoss will work together with partners to jointly develop new technologies and explore interfaces in the energy system surrounding energy storage.
"The supermarket will be the focal point of a new part of our campus, where all buildings will be energy efficient and meet special sustainability requirements. Our goal is to drive the green transition forward with concrete evidence of how far we can go with energy efficiency. We want to demonstrate to customers and partners how energy-saving solutions work in real life. We want to show that greener energy is energy that we don't use or reuse. That's why visits to supermarkets will be one of the main attractions when IEA delegates arrive in Denmark in June for the 7th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency," adds Jürgen Fischer, President of Danfoss Climate Solutions.
BALS, Brugsen for Als and Sundeved, Denmark's largest independent supermarket association, will lease the building to Danfoss and install a COOP 365 discount supermarket. BALS, which works together with COOP, has a total of 13 stores in the area around Sønderborg in Denmark and since 2015 has consistently reduced energy consumption in its stores. So far, they have reduced 44 percent of their total CO2 emissions. Therefore, it was a natural next step for BALS to become a partner of the project.
Showroom for clients
Danfoss is setting up a showroom in a part of the supermarket building, where all facilities are visible to visitors and customers. Danfoss solutions for heating and cooling, such as CO2 as a refrigerant, heat recovery and interaction between installations, will be experienced while in operation.
"Our new Smart Store shows what is possible with today's technology, such as our Alsense software. The integration of hardware and software tools in this store underscores the growing importance of digitalization for the ecological transition. BALS is the perfect partner because its employees, neighbors and customers will contribute to this important experience," says Tuuli Sarvilinna, Senior Vice President of Electronic Services and Controllers at Danfoss.
The supermarket will be connected to Nordals Fjernvarmeværk and will be able to supply surplus heat to the local district heating network.
