Refreshment for energy managers!

The slogan “This is forward” is central to the sustainability agenda of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) – the largest independent bottler of the Coca-Cola Company’s soft drinks. The agenda’s goals are ambitious. By 2030, the beverage producer is looking to achieve a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 2019 – at its Genshagen plant and 13 other sites in Germany. By 2040, it is aiming to achieve climate neutrality. The focus is on packaging and raw materials. “For example, we are continuing to ramp up our business with reusable containers and want our airbag packaging to be made from 100 percent recycled PET. Production accounts for 9 percent of CO₂ emissions, and we are looking for optimisation potential in this area, too,” explains Quality and Food Safety Manager Florian Happe, who was also responsible for energy management at CCEP until 2021.

 COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENT OVER A 12-MONTH PERIOD

Certifying the plants as CO₂-neutral step by step involves examining every detail and looking for potential ways to make further energy savings. One impressive strategy identified at the plant in Genshagen, near Berlin, was replacing old cooling units with Blue e+ cooling units from Rittal, which offer significant energy-saving potential thanks to their hybrid technology. The budget was soon approved and the units were replaced. That was not enough to obtain certification, though. “The savings Rittal predicted sounded good, but we had to provide proof in order to obtain ISO 50001 certification,” recalls Mario Drescher, Environmental and Energy Coordinator at CCEP in Genshagen. “I therefore carried out a comparative measurement between an old unit and a new Rittal model over a 12-month period. If I hadn’t taken the measurements myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. The energy requirements were 90 percent lower,” he reveals.

The cooling solutions’ energy efficiency is a big plus for CCEP, but not the only benefit. The beverage producer also requires maximum system availability to ensure on-time deliveries and thus satisfied customers. “Our lines need to keep running, even during increasingly hot summers. Anything that helps reliably prevent downtime is good, and that includes perfect cooling of the enclosures to ensure the technology doesn’t overheat,” continues Drescher.