Left to right: Jen Szaro, James Bell, Rebecca Troutfetter

Viking Cold Solutions is recognized by the Association of Energy Services Professionals’ (AESP) inaugural Innovations in Demand Flexibility award today at their annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.  The award was received by James Bell, Viking Cold Solutions’ President and CEO, and presented by Jen Szaro, President & CEO of AESP, and Rebecca Troutfetter, Vice President of Engineering & Corporate Impact at CLEAResults.

AESP, a leading industry trade group advancing the energy industry, introduced the Innovations in Demand Flexibility award this year.  This competition for the award spanned various demand flexibility programs, such as renewable energy projects, distributed energy resource programs, demand response initiatives, microgrids, decarbonization efforts, and electrification programs.

Viking Cold Solutions’ Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology consistently achieves positive impacts on business operations, the electricity grid, and the environment.  Beyond its energy demand management and electrical efficiency achievements, TES helps address critical issues like food waste and food insecurity by better preserving food quality while also conserving electricity.  Additionally, TES’s unique ability to store and more efficiently utilize renewable energy assists with efforts to accelerate the decarbonization of the power grid, contributing to a more sustainable energy landscape.  Viking Cold Solutions monitors all sites 24/7/365 to ensure clients’ peace of mind, and all parties can view performance metrics and historical data through the cloud-based portal.

Some examples of demand flexibility and efficiency include the deployment of Viking Cold’s innovative energy technology in regional food banks from coast to coast which resulted in quantifiable and meaningful positive impacts.  By reducing energy costs, TES technology provides hundreds of thousands of additional meals to Americans suffering from food insecurity. This further demonstrates Viking Cold’s commitment to addressing energy and environmental challenges while creating a positive economic and social impact through practical local initiatives.

Viking Cold Solutions builds lasting partnerships with our clients and stays engaged throughout the life of facilities with ongoing data collection, optimization initiatives, and utility incentive programs.  Through these initiatives, TES technology has saved over 44 million kWh of electricity, avoided over 34 thousand tons of GHG emissions, and earned millions of dollars in incentives for our clients.

For further details on the AESP Energy Awards, please visit AESP.

To learn more about Viking Cold’s technology and how it can reduce energy consumption to enhance the sustainability of cold storage facilities, reach out to Viking Cold today!

Initial results show 20%-30% energy savings on a recent deployment of Thermal Energy Storage technology in a US Cold facility in Tulare, California.

US Cold references the energy saving and carbon reducing technology in their quarterly newsletter- the Shield- accessible here.

Here at Viking Cold we are excited that another world class company has embraced the energy and cost savings of TES technology and the sustainability and carbon reduction that it provides to the cold chain which consumes more electricity than any other source except lighting.

#sustainability #carbonreduction #vikingcoldsolutions

North American Clean Energy has published an article by Viking Cold’s Director of Marketing, Damon Vance, that discusses how many commercial & industrial (C&I) refrigerated warehouses across the country are contributing to solutions for some of the challenges on the electrical grid. The C&I facilities in the cold chain, when utilizing energy storage and refrigeration optimization solutions like Viking Cold’s, represent a significant opportunity to help reach the goals of utility operators and the Biden Administration’s $36 billion decarbonization plan. By enabling cold chain facilities with added sustainability, resiliency, and flexibility operators of both cold storage and the electrical grid can reduce costs and GHG emissions.

Read the article or contact Viking Cold to learn more about the intense electrical load, aging infrastructure, and rapid growth rate of the refrigerated cold chain and how new technologies like Thermal Energy Storage (TES) are helping them improve refrigeration efficiencies, reduce their carbon footprint, and contribute to the growth of renewable energy sources as we enter the energy transition.

POWER Magazine’s Associate Editor Darrell Proctor recently published an article focused on the rebuilding of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid after a number of devastating hurricanes including Hurricane Maria in 2017. “The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority has embarked on a $20 billion plan to rebuild the island’s power grid. The initiative includes a commitment to generate 40% of the island’s power from renewable resources by 2025, and 100% by 2050. C&I enterprises using distributed power generation are a large part of the effort.”

The article highlights Viking Cold as one of the leading sustainable Distributed Energy Resources (DER) delivering cost-effective, reliable, and resilient power to the island’s industrial and commercial businesses.

Isla Frio, a cold storage company on the island, is building a new 147,000 square foot facility with Viking Cold’s Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology to add hurricane-resistant food storage capacity to the island. The second phase of the project will include the addition of onsite solar power generation. The combination of renewables with the existing TES installed during construction will maximize the cost-effectiveness of their solar-plus-storage investment and help Puerto Rico meet its aggressive goals to add resilient renewable generation to the grid.

Food Logistics has recognized Viking Cold Solutions among the top logistics software providers for 2020, as one of the leading software and technology partners to the food and beverage industry, for the second year in a row.

The publication named Viking Cold as a winner of its 2020 FL100+ Award in recognition of the significant reductions in both energy usage and costs and operational improvements that Viking Cold’s Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology delivers in cold chain settings.

Now in its 17th year, the FL100+ is a highly respected annual listing of top logistics software providers that are addressing the unique challenges of today’s food and beverage supply chain. Recipients are judged to deliver products and services that support efficient transportation and warehousing, minimize operational waste, facilitate safe operations, and assure regulatory compliance.

Viking Cold was selected for the strengths of its innovative Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology, which equips cold chain facilities with the means to enhance refrigeration efficiency and increase operational resilience. This not only helps customers reduce their carbon footprint, but also achieves a reduction in energy costs of up to 50%.

Combining environmentally friendly phase change materials with a powerful suite of cloud-based operational tools, TES integrates easily with existing controls to provide real-time monitoring and analytics of temperatures, equipment status, and energy use.

These data-driven insights are made available to warehouse managers via the Viking Cold client portal with custom reports, notifications, and analytics giving them the actionable intelligence to improve cold storage operations and reduce costly peak-period energy consumption for up to 13 hours per day.

All the while, TES ensures stable refrigerated temperatures are maintained, which safeguards food products, limits waste, and minimizes disruption during periods of downtime or power outage.

The full list of FL100+ Award winners was revealed by Food Logistics in an announcement on December 16. Full details will be published in the November/December 2020 print issue of the magazine.

For more information on the technology behind Viking Cold’s award-winning thermal energy storage solution, and how it can reduce energy consumption and costs for your food warehousing operations, get in touch today.

Viking Cold is delighted to have been named a winner at the Green Supply Chain Awards 2020 in recognition of its commitment to help customers reduce their carbon footprint.

The win is a testament to the strengths of Viking Cold’s highly efficient Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology, which optimizes refrigeration, lowers demand and overall power consumption in high-demand cold storage applications, and delivers benefits to both the environment and the bottom line.

The Green Supply Chain Awards, co-ordinated by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine, celebrate companies working to achieve sustainability goals as well as providers of supply chain solutions and services that support customers in their carbon-reduction efforts.

Winners were selected for their ability to demonstrate a clear sustainable supply chain strategy and provide evidence of how they are executing on those strategies to deliver measurable results.

Viking Cold’s TES technology, which has previously been recognized in the Green Supply Chain Awards, increases refrigeration system efficiency in cold storage environments by an average of 26%.

It is based on the use of 100% recyclable thermal energy storage cells that contain environmentally friendly Phase Change Materials. Energy is stored in the cells for later release, enabling refrigeration equipment to be safely cycled off over long periods, limiting the amount of power being drawn from the grid while maintaining a consistent temperature to safeguard food quality.

Viking Cold’s offering also incorporates a cloud-based suite of operational tools to deliver the data insight needed to optimize operations and energy usage and provide evidence of the savings generated.

For more information on the Green Supply Chain Awards, visit the SDCE website.

Contact us today to discuss how Viking Cold’s award-winning Thermal Energy Storage technology can help reduce energy consumption and enhance the sustainability credentials of your cold storage facilities.

Cold Facts magazine has listed Viking Cold Solutions among the cutting-edge warehouse energy technologies delivering cost-efficient and sustainable benefits in temperature-controlled applications.

The magazine, published by the Global Cold Chain Alliance, included Viking Cold in an overview of technologies that have advanced in recent years to provide “savvy facilities” with new ways of answering their refrigeration challenges.

The article explains how Viking Cold’s thermal energy storage (TES) technology allows operators to safely shift energy use during high-tariff periods to maximize cost savings while also reducing total energy consumption. It highlights how TES opens the door to more renewable energy use while enabling operators to take advantage of utility programs, incentives, and demand-response economics.

James Bell, President & CEO of Viking Cold, noted that the cloud-based intelligence platform used to manage TES provides operators with the controls and visibility to maximize operational efficiency in cold storage facilities. At the same time, it minimizes the use of refrigeration equipment.

He explained how it draws on real-time data to automate temperature optimization and energy consumption. The long-duration storage technology discharges for up to 13 hours per day to maintain stable temperatures that protect food quality and shelf life, even if electricity or equipment fails.

Bell added that TES technology can interface with warehouse management systems, automation platforms, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Adoption of all of these potentially powerful technologies is accelerating in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Bell, as facilities look to closely measure, monitor, and limit energy consumption with a view to introducing greater cost reduction and enhancing sustainability.

“Cold storage and electrical grid operators both are facing new energy challenges. As the world moves towards renewables and green sources of electricity, TES technology is a unique and powerful tool to help address these challenges,” Bell concluded.

To read the full article on warehouse energy alternatives, visit the Cold Facts magazine page on the GCCA website. The article starts on page 28.

For more information on Viking Cold’s cutting-edge thermal energy storage technology, and how it can enhance cost efficiencies and sustainability for your cold storage facilities, get in touch today.

POWER magazine, a leading source of information for the power generation industry, has published an article highlighting the benefits of Viking Cold’s Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology in managing power demand for utilities and cold storage customers.

The article, authored by Collin Coker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Viking Cold, gave an overview of the changing energy landscape, where factors such as the increase in Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and the variability of renewable generation sources are having a bearing on power providers’ ability to manage demand when and where it is needed.

Coker points out that time of use, capacity, transmission, and distribution all impact the total cost of electricity for the end-user. This presents an acute issue for food businesses with commercial and industrial (C&I) refrigerated facilities, where a continuous energy supply is needed to control temperature fluctuations and avoid any damage being caused to the products being stored.

Underlining this point, he cites data showing that C&I refrigeration sites have the highest demand per square foot of any industrial load, with energy often accounting for up to 70% of their total electric bill.

Coker explains how Viking Cold’s TES technology has been designed specifically for such applications, using proprietary Phase Change Material that remains near a constant temperature while storing large amounts of energy that can be released over long periods, covering higher cost periods of peak demand.

Among the Viking Cold clients the article highlighted as managing demand through the use of TES was Dreisbach Enterprises in Richmond, California, which has reduced demand between 300 kW to 500 kW for 13 hours per day, six days a week while also improving temperature stability by 50% and avoiding the technique of ‘flywheeling’ on the food. Overall, Dreisbach Enterprises was able to achieve a cut in freezer energy consumption of 35%.

To read the full article, and for more news and insight into energy operations and maintenance, visit the POWER magazine website.

For more information on how Thermal Energy Storage can bring greater control and cost-savings to your cold storage facility, get in touch with Viking Cold today.

Karma Impact, the impact investment news site aimed at the alternative investment community, published an overview of the impact of Viking Cold Solutions’ technology on energy consumption and costs, resilience, and sustainability.

Starting with the story of Viking Cold, from the initial insight of its founder Paul Robbins, up to its current status as a provider of proven energy savings, Karma Impact outlines the key advantages of Viking Cold Solutions for impact investors.

Karma Impact describes how Viking Cold’s Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology allows cold storage facilities to consume electricity when prices are lowest, and then maintain low temperatures within each facility while reducing refrigeration energy through the rest of the day. Using sealed containers of a phase change material, managed and monitored through intelligent software, the system with no mechanical components provides efficiency and cost reductions of 25-50% for low-temperature facilities.

Of particular interest to the impact investment community, as Karma Impact noted, is the potential to pair Viking Cold’s TES solutions with renewable energy, such as solar. This combination allows facilities to reduce electricity consumed from the grid by up to 95%, and while facilities managers would be impressed by the resulting cost savings, impact investors will be struck by the ability to dramatically reduce electricity consumption in an energy intensive sector of the economy.

Alternatives to Viking Cold’s TES technologies might understandably be less attractive to impact investors. Traditional batteries, such as Lithium-ion batteries, are environmentally damaging, Karma Impact notes. Alternatively, sub-cooling food to attempt to lower energy costs (often called “flywheeling”) can decrease food quality.

Moreover, Karma Impact notes the impact of Viking Cold’s technology in improving resilience in the face of natural disasters, referencing the experiences of Viking Cold’s customers in Puerto Rico during Hurricanes Maria and Irma.

You can read the full coverage on Karma Impact’s site, here.

To speak directly to Viking Cold, to find out how we can help you reduce electricity consumption, cut carbon emissions, and improve resilience, contact us here.

Thunder Said Energy, the research consultancy for energy technologies, has released a review of the benefits of thermal energy storage for refrigeration, renewable energy sources, and energy storage at large.

Phase Change Materials (PCM), such as those used by Viking Cold Solutions, are described by the report as a “game-changer” for energy storage technology, particularly with reference to their use alongside renewable energy. The report explains the economics of cold storage, the functioning of Phase Change Materials, and covers a review of 5,800 patents in the space.

Thunder Said’s Phase Change Materials review made the key observation that PCM technologies can:

• Earn double-digit Internal Rate of Return
• Unlock 20% efficiency gains in freezers and refrigerators
• Provide superior efficiency over battery storage

Noting that refrigerators and freezers comprise 9% of the US electric grid, including consumption across 4,200 warehouses, 40,000 supermarkets, and 620,000 restaurants, Thunder Said is bullish on the potentials of Phase Change Materials.

The PCM report, which can be purchased from the authors here, highlights the achievements of Viking Cold Solutions’ thermal energy management technologies, the industry-leading performance that will be of particular interest to the readers. While Thunder Said expects 20% improvements in efficiency gains and commensurate cost savings, Viking Cold’s own installations have delivered efficiency improvements and cost savings of between 25% and 50%, out-performing the analysts’ expectations.

Viking Cold Solutions has developed its own PCMs and proprietary software from its headquarters in Houston, Texas, and now has the technology installed and running in locations from California to Puerto Rico and Mexico to Australia, with years of reliable operation and documented case studies to confirm the technology’s effectiveness in reducing cost, energy consumption, and carbon emissions.

For specific case studies and overviews of Viking Cold Solutions’ technology’s performance, see our Resources. And to find out how we can improve your energy efficiency and reduce your energy costs, contact us here.