Viking Cold Solutions, the leading thermal energy storage provider for low-temperature cold storage industries, announced a record-setting year for the company in 2019, highlighted by several notable accomplishments that set the stage for continued strong growth in 2020.
Viking Cold’s 2019 revenue was more than six times greater than 2018 revenue, reflecting over 19,000 kWh of energy storage capacity deployed across 14 projects, saving energy and protecting food while also offsetting 13.4 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. The company’s market growth continues to increase as its total sales pipeline grew to more than $40 million during the year.
“The past year has been our best by every metric,” said James Bell, Viking Cold Solutions President & CEO. “We’ve seen growing momentum in market acceptance and recognition, installations, revenue, future sales opportunities, carbon reduction, product development, and production capacity. This success provides a solid foundation for our continued progress in deploying our clean energy technology and achieving even more in the coming year.”
A major accomplishment in 2019 was installing eight Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems in less than four months as part of an Eversource demand management program in Massachusetts. These behind-the-meter TES systems, with a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) less than 2¢ per kWh, store and facilitate management of approximately 1.3 megawatts (MW) of energy and did not require any additional real estate for the system components.
The Greater Boston Food Bank was the first TES installation of the demand management program, which also includes industrial facilities owned by Americold Realty Trust the world’s largest third-party cold storage company, Sysco Corporation the world’s largest foodservice distributor, and numerous frozen food processing companies. The TES systems achieved 98% of Eversource’s overall targeted demand reduction for the program.
In addition to the Massachusetts projects, Viking Cold also completed work on its first TES system in Australia, at the New South Wales Food Bank near Sydney. This continues the company’s campaign to not only improve energy efficiency in the global cold chain, but also help local community food banks through sustained energy savings, carbon reduction, and food quality.
“Operators in cold storage are seeking safer and more efficient ways to deal with rising energy costs, particularly peak demand and time-of-use charges. And everyone is dealing with the challenges of renewable variability and the risk of de-energization that threaten temperature stability and food quality,” Bell noted.
In 2019 the company also received a total of seven awards from well-recognized global institutions, organizations, and industry publications for technical achievement and contributions to efficiency, resiliency, and sustainability. A few examples of these are Peak Load Management Alliance: Technology Pioneer, The Cleanie Awards: Platinum Project of the Year, Energy Institute: Technology Innovation, and Food Logistics: Top Green Provider and Top Software & Technology Provider.
The global cold chain is energy intensive
Energy is the second-highest direct operating cost for cold storage operators, who must run their refrigeration systems nearly 24 hours per day if they are to keep temperatures stable and protect food quality. Additionally, such facilities have the highest energy demand per cubic foot of any industrial category on the grid. Viking Cold’s TES systems store enough energy to cycle off refrigeration for up to 13 hours per day to avoid time-of-use and demand charges, while also improving the energy efficiency of existing refrigeration systems and reducing energy consumption by more than 25 percent.
Viking Cold TES systems provide real-time optimization and proactive monitoring over a 20-year life with zero maintenance and provide resiliency and risk mitigation by extending temperature control three times longer during potential power outages or equipment failures.
