The company Sovereign Foods is one of the largest producers of poultry in South Africa. In April 2021, they commissioned a new plant for the processing and refrigeration of their chicken products in the town of Kariega in the South of South Africa. The local contractor Energy Partners Refrigeration delivered the refrigeration equipment: three BITZER Ammonia Compressor Packs.
ACPs run on the natural refrigerant ammonia – a great opportunity for this project, since the end customer places great value on sustainability and efficiency. Each ACP is optimized by the intelligent operation of up to three screw compressors at their peak efficiency points. The multiple compressor operation results in low starting current, which reduces peak-demand consumption and installation costs. All sensors for critical measurements are doubled up to avoid disruptive shutdowns. BITZER South Africa supplied the powerful heavyweights and gave start-up assistance together with colleagues from the BITZER service network Green Point and BITZER India.
Teamwork across continents
Rajeev Hendre, Head of Industrial Refrigeration and ACP Commissioning Specialist at BITZER India, and Yeartman Tsakeni, Service Technician at Green Point South Africa, did the start-up assistance of the ACPs on site as well as the training with the plant operator. Yeartman Tsakeni on the installation of the ACPs: ‘We supplied two booster packs for low temperatures running at –40°C/–5°C and providing 1,326 kWR, and another pack for temperatures running at –5°C/34°C providing 2,217 kWR. This system is now the biggest CaaS project in Africa.’ Rajeev Hendre adds: ‘The chosen solution impresses by its lowered running costs and service time. Total life cycle cost is optimized through low capital cost, long-term guaranteed efficiency and predictive maintenance.’
CaaS: Cooling as a Service
Rising energy costs are a hot topic in South Africa and electrical supply is unpredictable. Many companies in the country take steps to reduce their power consumption. Cooling as a Service allows them to outsource their cooling actions to be able to focus on their core business, only paying what they use and not having to worry about upfront costs. The CaaS business model is becoming increasingly popular in South Africa and other countries, making the use of efficient and environmentally friendly technology more worthwhile. In the case of this project, this means that the refrigeration system still belongs to Energy Partners, who charges their customer Sovereign Foods for the provided refrigeration.
