Carrier announced a €12 million testing facility at its European Centre of Excellence in Montluel, France, expanding research and development capacity for cooling and heating technologies used in data centres, industry and large commercial buildings. The site is intended to support performance validation for equipment aligned with Europe’s push toward electrification, lower-impact refrigerants and tighter efficiency requirements.
The new laboratory is designed to test air-cooled chillers up to 3,200 kW, air source heat pumps up to 1,500 kW, and water source chillers and heat pumps up to 6,000 kW. It also covers ambient conditions from −20°C to +60°C with humidity control and supports water flow rates up to 1,600 m³/h.
Testing at the Montluel site is performed in line with Eurovent-certified performance methodologies. Carrier links the investment to decarbonisation policies, EcoDesign efficiency thresholds and the ongoing F-Gas revision, which are increasing demand for validated high-performance cooling and heating systems in Europe.
The facility also targets applications tied to data centre growth in the region.
“With these new test laboratory facilities, Eurovent certified, we’re raising the bar on how we support customers and partners in Europe,” said Bertrand Rotagnon, Executive Director, Commercial Business Line & Data Centres Europe. “The combination of higher test capacity and advanced environmental control let us validate performance with zero tolerance, earlier and bring solutions to market faster, giving customers the confidence to move ahead on high-efficiency cooling and heating for data centres, industry and district heating”.
