Roche products - district cooling

Planning / Implementation / Main components

Star Refrigeration Ltd.

Refrigerant

ammonia (NH₃) / chilled water (H₂O)

System start-up

1997

Roche Products Ltd. is a major research-based healthcare company. Its site at Welwyn Garden City fulfils a variety of functions; including manufacture, R&D and administration. Part of the company's environmental policy has been to eliminate the use of CFCs.

Demands

The refrigeration requirements for individual buildings are dependent on the use that the building is being put to. Consequently, the site has a diverse and fluctuating cooling requirement. Therefore the new refrigeration plant should be flexible, with a capacity to meet the existing site cooling load and accommodate an envisaged short-term increase in demand as well as an easy upgrading due to further site expansion.

Solution

It was decided that Roche's present and future cooling demands would best be met by adopting the philosophy of a centralised water chilling plant using ammonia as the refrigerant.