SCM REF cites 250–280 CO2 installations in Australia and New Zealand
SCM REF Australia, Beijer Ref Australia’s manufacturing operation, has installed transcritical CO2 systems in between 250 and 280 locations in Oceania over the past four years, noting a growing interest in all applications, particularly at convenience stores.
The past four years in Australia have been exciting for SCM REF, according to Inderpal Saund, Business Development Manager APAC & Sales Manager at SCM REF Australia.
To manufacture its own equipment locally, SCM REF relocated to a new 22,000m2 (236,806ft2) factory in Bankstown, Sydney. The company still imports units from its sister company SCM Frigo in Europe as well, allowing a joint supply of equipment into the Oceanian marketplace.
At the Bankstown facility, SCM REF also built a Beijer Ref Academy to share CO2 knowledge and support training locally, similar to Beijer Ref’s other academies around the globe.
SCM REF Australia now imports the full SCM Frigo range from Europe, allowing it to service all applications – from condensing units for small convenience stores to large 2MW (569TR) industrial applications. According to Saund, there has been particular interest in using CO2 for convenience liquor stores.
Saund estimates SCM REF’s combined CO2 installation count for Australia and New Zealand to be between 250 and 280. The Beijer Ref Group installations account for around 80–100 in Australia and 25–30 in New Zealand. The largest percentage of these installations is still accounted for by commercial applications. Industrial ones are slow to take off as they face great competition from ammonia/NH3 (R717); however, there is potential for combined ammonia-CO2 systems where heat reclaim can offer a great benefit.
Saund estimates installation numbers to climb to around 1,000 sites by 2025, depending largely on the retailers.
According to Saund, SCM REF now works with three of the four major retailers in Australia. There has been a shift from merely experimenting with CO2 technology to now insisting on it. SCM REF has become more confident in advocating the use of CO2 locally thanks to the growing installation base.
Local policy and regulations are a massive hurdle for the widespread uptake of CO2 in Oceania. Locally, there are still strong pockets of people using traditional, high-GWP HFC refrigerants like R404A.