On June 10–11, AGRI-COOL consortium members gathered in Vicenza, Italy, to mark the commissioning of the project’s first fully operational cold room demonstrator at Genius Watter’s facilities. The meeting, hosted by the University of Padova (UNIPD) and Genius Watter, took place one year after the project’s launch and included site visits and progress presentations from all Work Package leaders.
The first day featured a visit to UNIPD’s Department of Management and Engineering, where partners toured laboratories focused on refrigeration and thermal performance. These included the Refrigerant Room, where HFC-based systems are benchmarked through charging and discharging cycles at around -8 to -9°C, and the Climate Chamber, where phase change materials (PCM) are tested for energy storage efficiency using heat pumps and a small wind tunnel. Additional lab work centered on thermal diffusivity and nanofluids for improved heat transfer.
In the afternoon, partners visited Genius Watter’s site in Carmignano to see the completed AGRI-COOL cold room. The system, collaboratively designed over the first year of the project, is solar-powered and intended for outdoor use in high-temperature environments. It will be deployed at a demonstration site in Somalia.
The cold room features temperature sensors for controlled storage at 10–12°C, a safety alert system for human presence, a PCM-based backup for nighttime cooling, floor-integrated heat exchange and insulation, and dust protection measures. Initial on-site testing began during the visit.
The second day of the meeting was dedicated to technical updates and project coordination. Partners from Europe and Africa presented developments across their respective areas of work. The AGRI-COOL project aims to deliver sustainable cold storage solutions for agricultural and rural communities.
