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Technology: Manufacturer Profile
Secop's booth at Chillventa
Secop Seizes the Moment The German compressor maker is taking advantage of the new efficiency requirements in the U.S. to market is propane units By Charlotte McLaughlin and Michael Garry As OEMs serving the light commercial and household sectors in the U.S. have transitioned to hydrocarbon commercial refrigeration equipment (see page 36.), Secop sees opportunities for its growing line of propane (R290) and isobutane (R600a) compressors. Like most changes in the HVAC&R market, the move to hydrocarbons is being shaped by legislation, particularly the U.S. Department of Energy’s new efficiency requirements for commercial display cases, which took effect March 27. Looming HFC delistings in 2019 and 2020 under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s directives is another factor. Secop, a German maker of hermetic compressors for households, the light commercial sector and mobile refrigeration, has already been able to benefit from these changes – especially the new DOE standards, said Pieter Boink, its head of business development & marketing, in an interview with Accelerate America at the NAFEM Show in Orlando, Fla., last month. “In the U.S., there was this duty to change that was a huge window of opportunity for us,” he said.
“We didn’t want to miss it, and in 2016 was very successful for us compared to a few years ago.” And Secop is still “taking advantage of this,” focusing on 150 V/60 Hz models for the U.S. market.” The shift towards hydrocarbons by U.S. OEMs has been further influenced by Coca-Cola’s decision to open the door to hydrocarbons for smaller equipment and not just focus on CO2. Secop planted roots in the U.S. in 2013 when it opened its U.S. headquarters in Roswell, Ga., near Atlanta. That was three years after its creation in 2010, when German holding company AURELIUS AG bought Danfoss Household Compressors from Danfoss, and its name was changed to Secop GmbH. “In the U.S. in the beginning we were grouped closely with the Danfoss sales organization, and they have continued to sell our products,” explained Boink. “But we have seen the need from the big OEMs that wanted to deal directly with us, and that is why we started the operation in [Roswell].”
Accelerate America
March 2017