LINDAU, Germany, 5 March 2020: ENGIE Refrigeration is reorganising its heat pump division, the company said through a Press release. Starting March 2020, the refrigeration and heating specialist will produce all the CO₂ high-temperature heat pumps in its portfolio at its head office in Lindau on Lake Constance, it said. In the course of this process, the existing production site in Ottendorf-Okrilla, near Dresden, will be shut down, it added.

“We have been producing chillers in Lindau for customers around the world for many years,” Jochen Hornung, CEO, ENGIE Refrigeration, said. “Our employees have extensive experience in the production of machines with a high performance range, and will now apply this expertise to the production of our CO₂ high-temperature heat pumps.”

According to the release, ENGIE Refrigeration will now use its state-of-the-art plant and the logistics network established in Lindau to sell its heat pumps, as well, thereby raising synergies and further increasing efficiency in its production and distribution processes. With this decision, ENGIE Refrigeration said it has clearly achieved its strategic objective of adapting the high production standards of its entire product portfolio to its CO₂ high-temperature heat pumps and, thereby, offering customers the best possible refrigeration and heating solutions.

According to the release, the CO₂ high-temperature heat pumps are an important component of the product and service portfolio at ENGIE Refrigeration. They can reach effective temperatures of up to 110 degrees Centigrade and are, therefore, used, for example, in the fields of heating, drying technology, and in the provision of heat in communal and industrial heating networks, ENGIE said. The heat pumps use the natural refrigerant CO₂, which is assigned to safety group A1 for its low toxicity and low level of flammability, which means that flames do not spread, and is inexpensive to procure, ENGIE said. In addition, the refrigerant has a GWP (global warming potential) value of just 1 and, thus, has far lower effects on the earth’s atmosphere than traditional refrigerants, ENGIE added. When used in heat pumps, it contributes to the mission of ‘Zero Carbon Transition as a Service’, which the French ENGIE Group, the parent company of ENGIE Refrigeration, has set itself, ENGIE further added. To this effect, ENGIE Refrigeration plans to further expand its heat pump division at its site in Lindau on Lake Constance over the coming years. Hornung said, “We will overhaul the existing thermeco₂ heat pumps over the course of 2020 and align them even further with current and future market requirements.