Illfracombe, Devon, UK: Philip Dennis Foodservice, a family-owned catering wholesaler, powers its 57 refrigerated vehicles when parked at the Devon depot with electricity from a renewable energy source.
The company has installed an 80-meter high wind turbine costing £1.2m. The turbine has an 800-kilowatts capacity enabling it to satisfy the power requirement of the company’s Devon-based head office and cold store. The power points for all the refrigerated vehicles are also supplied with electricity from the wind turbine.
Philip Dennis Foodservice powers its Frigoblock refrigeration units with electricity from a wind turbine when parked at the depot
Philip Dennis Foodservice is the first UK food wholesaler to fully power a depot with electricity from a renewable energy source. “Our electricity costs rose by 63% between 2006 and 2009. Therefore we began looking for a long-term sustainable solution to reduce costs, and the construction of a wind turbine was the obvious choice” says John Dennis, chief executive, Philip Dennis Foodservice. “Our carbon footprint has also been reduced significantly.“
The electric drive on Frigoblock machines means the transport refrigeration units can use power from the turbine while at the depot. The truck-engine-driven Frigoblock alternator supplies all the components such as the compressor and fans with energy and negates the need for a separate diesel engine. Frigoblock refrigeration units can easily be connected to the plant’s power grid and are suit electricity supplied from renewable energy sources.
John Winter, managing director, Frigoblock UK, says: “The powerful, alternator-driven Frigoblock refrigeration units have already made a big impression in the Philip Dennis fleet. They deliver excellent fuel economy and up to 95% less emissions when compared with independent diesel driven refrigeration units.
“Now, with the power of wind energy the economic and environmental performance of Frigoblock transport refrigeration units is improved even further.”
Frigoblock refrigeration units with alternator drives have low fuel consumption and low weight to offer more payload, easy installation and maintenance, as well as very high cooling, heating and air flow rates. This is “particularly relevant in the distribution sector, where due to the high number of door openings units require high refrigeration, heating and air flow performance as well a super-fast defrost times,” Winter says.
