The increased demand for air conditioning and cooling has led to higher electricity consumption in many cities. In our effort to provide low carbon cooling, we have built the first two district cooling networks. They are based on free cooling from seawater abstraction, along with running surplus heat from the district heating network through absorption cooling and traditional compression chillers. The project is expected to save 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Peak summer temperatures in Copenhagen can reach 35°C and are expected to rise by 2 – 3% by 2050 – with average daily temperatures also rising. Consequently, the demand for traditional air conditioning is increasing. Dependency on electricity-based cooling appliances can create unsustainable electricity demand and overreliance on fossil fuels. Traditional air conditioning systems are expensive, noisy and utilise a lot of space. Additionally there is currently excess surplus heat within the district heating system during summer months when demand is low. The solution was to develop a ’District Cooling‘ system to complement the highly successful District Heating system.

District Cooling is the centralised production and distribution of chilled water, partly cooled with cold seawater. It is distributed via underground insulated pipelines to commercial and industrial buildings to cool the indoor air. The plant is designed around three different methods of cooling making it very flexible and highly energy-efficient, depending on the temperature of the seawater.