ACR Journal

October | November 2020 REFRIGERATION 20 Volume 6 No.6 The World Guide to Transcritical CO 2 Refrigeration was published as a free-to- download resource in July, followed by a live webinar on to discuss the findings. It showed how the number of installations globally increased from 140 in 2008 (all of which were in Europe), to an estimated 35,500 today. As the use of transcritical CO 2 refrigeration systems continued to increase at an exponential rate, it became apparent that there was a great need for reliable information from a neutral source. As such, shecco’s Market Development team (sheccoBase), undertook an extensive market study in the first half of 2020 to analyse the current state of the global industry and various trends. As a market accelerator for clean cooling and natural refrigerant technologies, shecco (also publisher of R744.com ) has been collecting information and writing about CO 2 installations for the better part of the past two decades. The number of installations has been growing steadily over this period as industry finds innovative ways to realise the potential of CO 2 , even in warmer ambient The future is clearly natural Ilana Koegelenberg, Market Development Manager at global market accelerator shecco, explores the exponential growth in the installation of transcritical CO 2 refrigeration systems. climates previously thought incompatible with transcritical systems. sheccoBase conducted an extensive data collection exercise during the first half of 2020 with manufacturers of CO 2 refrigeration systems. The aim was to quantify the number of transcritical CO 2 installations worldwide. The companies were asked how many transcritical CO 2 installations they have completed to date. Furthermore, they were asked to di“erentiate between the applications convenience stores (<400m 2 [4306ft 2 ]), supermarkets (>400m 2 [4306ft 2 ]), industrial refrigeration installations; ice rinks; and data centres. When we first started collecting data in 2008, we only counted 140 transcritical CO 2 systems – all of which were in Europe. (As we only count only complete installations, it’s important to note that the number of actual individual CO 2 systems are much higher as the larger projects often have more than one system.) Today, this number is fast approaching 40,000 globally as the accelerated phase down of harmful synthetics drives the search for a more climate-friendly alternative. This growth is most noticeable within regions such as Europe, the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Most notably we have found that CO 2 refrigeration technology is no longer only used in commercial refrigeration installations. More and more we are seeing success stories in small convenience stores and even larger industrial installations. Ice rink applications in particular are also becoming ever-more popular globally – especially in Canada where they comprise 30% of all transcritical CO 2 installations. In Europe, there are an estimated 29,000 transcritical CO 2 installations in total today (a number that increases constantly and will be even greater by now). On average, around 90% of all installations are in supermarkets. 5% are in convenience stores and 5% at industrial sites.

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