Panasonic CO2 refrigeration makes prime cut

UK: Keen to increase sustainability in refrigeration at its new butchery in Devon, Riverford Organic Farm is now benefiting from the installation of four 10HP Panasonic CO2 refrigeration units.

Riverford Organic Farm was established in the 1980s and originally delivered fresh vegetables to supermarkets but then realised that there was a unique business model with home delivery – now in 2022, they have built an impressive business, delivering to over 80,000 homes across England and Wales from 36 distribution sites.

Nigel Bower, facilities and property manager at Riverford commented, “We are looking to make significant in-roads by 2030 to drive down our carbon footprint of our activities and in particular the refrigeration and electrical usage that represents 7% of our overall business, we are looking to reduce this with the work we are currently doing especially within our refrigeration requirements.” 

Bideford-based contractor Keep It Cool Refrigeration, sought the advice of refrigeration specialist distributor, Mervin Chumun at Hawco Ltd, and together specified four 10HP Panasonic units to provide the best solution for the Riverford Butchery’s hanging, retail, and despatch areas. The Panasonic units supply six Lu-Ve evaporators.

“The main challenge during this project was to keep the rest of the butchery running whilst the expansion was happening,” said Keep It Cool Refrigeration’s operations manager Neil McCourt. 

“As the existing site has doubled in size and expanded recently – we are already seeing the benefits in costs. Energy usage is going down and the system is so far performing as we expected to achieve what we wanted to keep a stable environment and reduce our costs – so all good,” commented Nigel Bower. We have 36 other sites that need updating – we are looking at renewables such as CO2 in these sites and currently researching further.”

Neil McCourt further added, “The benefits of using the R744 system are not only for the environment, but also offer greater energy efficiency in addition to the sound of the units being barely noticeable and very quiet, so great for residential areas as you can hardly hear them.”