New technology brings efficiency to cold storage

Groceries fight inefficiencies on two fronts: structural performance and refrigeration operations.

The latter can create significant energy ebbs and flows, no matter the tightness of the facility. Efficient equipment is vital to a store’s bottom line – and to keeping consumers happy with properly temperature-regulated products.

Companies like Viking Cold have focused their efforts on making cold storage solutions for commercial and industrial applications more efficient, from shifting energy loads to incorporating solar power.

The company, which displayed some of its latest technology at AHR Expo 2018 in Chicago, says it has saved its clients more than 10,102 MWh of energy, reduced the global carbon footprint by more than 3,900 metric tons and mitigated more than $13 million of product loss.

Viking Cold’s thermal storage system, which has no mechanical components, stores thermal energy during low-cost periods of the day and uses it during high-cost periods to save operations up to 90 percent of peak demand charges.

“We’re working with a variety of customers within the cold chain that are seeing tangible benefits,” said Adam Valmoro, director of business development for Viking Cold.

Customers energy savings have ranged from 15 to 30 percent with more efficient cold-storage solutions, he said. Adding solar technology to refrigeration units has pushed savings to around 40 percent.