Three years after opening, the Danfoss Smart Store in Denmark is reporting 60% lower net energy use than benchmark stores. The operational Coop 365 supermarket, run by BALS, integrates CO2 refrigeration, heating, heat recovery, electronic controls, sensors, cloud-based monitoring, energy management and solar power.
Heat from the CO2 refrigeration system is recovered for store heating and hot water, with surplus heat supplied to the local district heating network. Since opening, 130,000 kWh of recovered heat has been used in the store and another 50,000 kWh supplied to the district heating network. Danfoss says the heat-recovery solution has an average payback time of three years.
Solar panels cover 38% of the store’s total electricity demand. They generated 100,000 kWh in 2025, including 25,000 kWh supplied back to the electricity grid. The store is also described as fully self-sufficient in heating.
An independently verified Danfoss case study, using projected Danish grid emission factors, calculated that over a 15-year refrigeration-system lifetime the Smart Store can achieve 39% lower emissions than a modern CO2-based reference store and 68% lower emissions than an HFC-based reference store. The study notes that its results apply specifically to the Smart Store and its reference scenarios and cannot be transferred directly to other systems.
The site also includes the Danfoss Application Development Center, where engineers work with customers and partners to test, integrate and optimize technologies in real-life applications. More than 4,500 customers, partners, policymakers and students have visited the center since the Smart Store opened in 2023.
“The Smart Store demonstrates that the technologies needed to significantly reduce supermarket energy use and emissions already exist. By bringing refrigeration, heating, controls and energy management together in one system, retailers can improve efficiency, lower operating costs and strengthen competitiveness,” said Kristian Strand, President, Danfoss Climate Solutions.
