SmartParc and GEA have implemented a centralized heating and cooling system at SmartParc in Derby, UK, where food producers share infrastructure and recovered energy. The system has been operating for two years and is designed to reduce energy consumption and costs by up to 30% while supporting SmartParc’s progress toward net zero by 2030.
The site brings purpose-built food factories together on a single park connected through shared facilities and a centralized energy center. The system captures excess heat, upgrades it and redistributes it through a district heating network spanning more than 11 kilometers (approx. 6.8 miles).
“SmartParc looked at the project as a sustainability project right from the very start,” says John Burden, Director Project Sales Heating and Refrigeration Solutions at GEA UK. “Instead of rejecting heat to the environment, we designed a system that recovers it, boosts it through an ammonia heat pump, and can redistribute it to all users in the park.”
The park currently delivers around 5 MW (approx. 1,420 tons of refrigeration) of cooling and 2.5 MW (approx. 8.5 million BTU/h) of heating, with capacity set to more than double as new tenants move in. The system can operate at as little as 5% of its load to support efficiency during seasonal demand changes.
A key element is the use of ammonia as a natural refrigerant in the GEA heating and refrigeration system. “Ammonia has excellent thermodynamic properties,” Burden says. “It allows us to provide both cooling and heating using significantly less energy compared to conventional systems. That supports SmartParc’s net-zero ambitions directly.”
“For every one kilowatt of electricity we use, we generate three kilowatts of cooling and four of heating. That’s the whole point of the system,” says Phil Lovell, COO of SmartParc Europe.
