California Creamery Demonstrates First All-Electric Heat Pump Commercial Refrigerator

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and its partners are finding new ways for commercial food manufacturers to cool down their products and energy costs.

California-based Straus Family Creamery will host the world’s first industrial-scale, fully electric heat pump refrigeration system. This novel, integrated system reclaims heat from the refrigeration cycle to minimize energy requirements. The heat pump refrigeration system will improve energy efficiency and demand flexibility, lower energy costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Berkeley Lab Energy Technologies Area (ETA) researchers Doug Black and Rongxin Yin will collect key performance data on the innovative ANSWR™ CO2 Heat Pump, produced by fellow project partner Flow Environmental Systems. Monitoring will take place over two and a half years, both on-site at the creamery and in Berkeley Lab’s unique FLEXLABⓇ grid and building technologies testbed.

“The Berkeley Lab team will develop advanced defrost controls to reduce electric defrosting power and thermal energy storage controls for shifting demand from peak to off-peak hours,” said Yin. “Additionally, Berkeley Lab will serve as a third-party, nationally recognized laboratory to verify system performance.”

While advanced heat pumps have been used in residential settings, this is the first demonstration at the industrial commercial scale. It will serve as a vital proof point for transforming the cold storage sector by reducing emissions, improving energy efficiency and demand flexibility, lowering costs, and introducing advanced defrost controls.

Funded by the California Energy Commission, this project brings together a wide range of expertise from Berkeley Lab, Alter Engineers, Avida Energy, DMG North, Flow Environmental Systems, ProspectSV, and Straus Family Creamery.