EUROPE Migros, Switzerland10 Swiss retailer Migros expects the vast majority of its supermarkets to use natural refrigerants by 2030 – and especially CO2.
said Vitaly Belozertsev, lead engineer for energy efficiency and refrigeration at Globus.
“In supermarket refrigeration, it’s important to have efficient and reliable refrigeration production,” says Urs Berger, who heads the Energy and Building Technology department at Migros Engineering Solutions (MES). “In our experience, CO2 covers those two aspects very well,” he adds.
“In Russia we have now well performing installer partners, so that transcritical could be the standard. For us in Metro we will only install without exemptions transcritical systems, so far as technically possible,” said Olaf Schulze, director – energy, facility and resource management, Metro AG.
In 2002, Migros opened its first supermarket to use CO2, in a lowtemperature subcritical system. It installed its first CO2 transcritical system in 2005. “We decided in 2010 to make CO2 our standard refrigerant,” says Berger. For supermarket refrigeration, all Migros’s new and retrofitted installations use CO2 transcritical systems as standard since that year. “By 2030, the vast majority of our supermarkets will be with natural refrigerants – and especially CO2 transcritical.”
“Natural refrigerants are a must for our climate, for our future as a wholesaler, and we will consequently follow this path,” said Schulze, adding, “We are sure also the customers will recognize it.” Cementing the Group’s reputation is its F-Gas Exit Program. A cornerstone of the firm’s emissions reduction strategy, it will see Metro AG phase out f-gases by 2030, replacing them with natural refrigerants in all store locations worldwide – where it is technically feasible and economically reasonable to do so.
Of the 700 supermarkets in Migros’s portfolio, 411 were equipped with CO2 transcritical systems by the end of 2017 already.
Mega Image (Ahold Delhaize), Romania12
Metro and Globus, Russia11
As one of 22 local supermarket companies belonging to Ahold Delhaize, Mega Image SRL, the largest supermarket chain in Romania, shares its parent group’s dedication to reducing the environmental footprint of its activities.
In 2019, German retailers Globus and Metro AG opened new transcritical CO2 stores in Russia. As of January 2020, Metro AG has converted all of its R22 stores in Russia to CO2 refrigeration, the final one located in Lipetsk, western Russia. Next on Metro’s to-do list is the conversion of all of its R404A stores to CO2. “Talking about the large hypermarkets format, we don’t see any other alternatives to CO2 transcritical systems, as one of our top priorities is to increase the efficiency of refrigeration systems,”
“Mega Image is part of the Ahold Delhaize group and all its actions are aligned to those of the group,” said Vasile Casian, Technical Manager at Mega Image. “Our commitment is to have as little an impact on the environment as possible, and to make our actions more sustainable.” “Our targets refer to reaching a certain level of GWP and reducing our CO2 emissions,” he added. “To reach these targets, natural refrigerants are the best choice and the long-term solution.”
Commercial/supermarket applications
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