Frigologix joins CryoHub project

EUROPE: Frigologix, a leading cold chain specialist in France and Belgium, has joined the EU CryoHub project exploring the potential of large-scale cryogenic energy storage.

Frigologix joins the project as an industrial partner and has agreed to become the site for the CryoHub technology demonstrator installation.

The CryoHub project, which commenced 2016, will investigate and extend the potential for large-scale cryogenic energy storage. In particular, it is investigating how the power grid can be balanced with the cooling demand of refrigerated food warehouses, whilst at the same time recovering waste heat from systems. It is a 42 month EU co-funded project under the Horizon 2020 programme and includes a team of 14 partner organisations from five EU countries.

“Frigologix is an ideal partner for this project due to their commitment to constantly investigating new ways to optimise energy use in the cold chain,” commented project manager, Prof Judith Evans.

Joining the CryoHub project, Reinier van Elderen, director of Frigologix said: “Energy is one of our main cost drivers. This combined with our vision to leave a cleaner world for the next generation, made us decide to give energy and our energy consumption a lot of attention over the last years.”

Frigologix provides logistic services for fresh and frozen food for multinational companies like Farm Frites, McCain and IGLO as well as for local companies. Their site in Lommel, north east Belgium, near the Dutch border, receives over a hundred incoming and outgoing refrigerated vehicles per day.   

Frigologix have a proven commitment to buying green energy – in 2011 they installed 4,200 solar panels (nearly 1MW). Together with one of their biggest clients they operate a cogeneration plant and are working on developing a local smart grid. In 2015 Frigologix were awarded a Lean & Green Star, a European energy-saving initiative, for reducing its energy consumption by 20%.