Viking Cold Solutions Partners With Salt River Project And Bashas' Family Of Stores To Deliver Environmentally Friendly Thermal Energy Storage System

HOUSTON, June 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking Cold Solutions today announced a collaboration between Salt River Project (SRP) and Bashas' Family of Stores to install and evaluate the performance of Viking Cold Solutions' environmentally friendly Thermal Energy Storage (TES) System at the Bashas' distribution center in the Phoenix metro area. This low-impact, sustainable system is expected to offer significant energy savings, energy demand management, and heightened protection for frozen food products. 

The TES system also reduces energy distribution and delivery challenges for SRP by shifting energy demand to night hours. The passive TES system stores energy at night for subsequent day use, enabling less refrigeration runtime and reduction of load during peak afternoon hours.  

"We are very pleased to support this project with Bashas' and Viking Cold Solutions and to evaluate a technology that shows potential as an energy management tool for us and our customers," noted Nathan Morey, Manager of SRP Product Development. "SRP is excited to learn more about thermal storage technologies, which can provide energy savings for customers with industrial freezers like Bashas' and provide long-term benefits to all customers by reducing peak demand during summer months."

This project includes the installation of the Viking Cold Solutions Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system and 24/7 energy monitoring within the Bashas' ice-cream freezer at their distribution center. "We continuously evaluate energy efficiency opportunities, as refrigeration is one of our highest operating expenses. We support technologies that provide greater temperature stability, helping us to continually provide low product prices to our customers. SRP is an innovative power utility, and we are excited about this partnership and glad we were able to come together to fund this project," said Mike Basha, Vice President of Logistics at Bashas'. 

SRP will also fund the third-party research analysis for the project, evaluating the TES system's Phase Change Material (PCM) for its efficiency improvements and effectiveness at shifting energy load from on-peak to off-peak hours. SRP collaborated with Arizona State University's School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, along with Nexant's Utility Services Group, to measure the results of the project and extrapolate the potential impact of this technology on additional low temperature refrigeration loads in the Phoenix area. "Our students are excited to learn more about the potential energy savings and demand reduction impact of this innovative technology, as well as how it can be deployed in more facilities to support reductions in the Phoenix area's peak load," commented Kristen Parrish, ASU Assistant Professor.

"Cost effectively managing growing power grid demand and providing reliable and reasonable power prices to customers requires innovative solutions and collaboration from all parties – utilities, academia, industrial customers and technology providers. We anticipate that this project will provide a roadmap for deploying high-impact demand reduction solutions to refrigeration loads that were not previously accessible. As part of our commitment to cold-chain sustainability and reducing environmental impact, we are honored to be the enabling technology," James Bell, CEO of Viking Cold Solutions stated. 

About Viking Cold Solutions
Viking Cold Solutions™ is a thermal energy management company that makes the world's cold storage systems more efficient by using proprietary Phase Change Material (PCM) and intelligent controls. The company's passive Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems store energy, reduce demand, shift load, monitor customer facilities, and provide thermal back-up protection. The company's patented TES systems have saved over 8,100 MWh of energy, reduced carbon footprint by over 4,400 metric tons, and prevented more than $13M of product loss. Learn more at vikingcold.com.

About Bashas' Family of Stores
Bashas' Family of Stores – the family-owned grocer that operates Food City, AJ's Fine Foods, Eddie's Country Store, and both Bashas' and Bashas' Dine supermarkets – is an Arizona-based company founded by brothers Ike and Eddie Bashas, Sr. With more than 100 grocery stores, it is one of the largest employers in the state and one of the Best Places to Work in Arizona. Since the company's inception in 1932, Bashas' has given back more than $100 million to the communities it serves. For more information, visit www.bashas.com.

About Salt River Project
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving more than 1 million customers. More information about SRP is available on the company's website at www.srpnet.com.

About Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University include more than 20,300 students and more than 330 faculty members who conduct more than $100 million in research, spanning a broad range of engineering, construction, and technology fields. Our six schools offer 25 undergraduate and 39 graduate programs on ASU's Tempe and Polytechnic campuses and online. The Fulton Schools' programs emphasize problem solving, entrepreneurship, multidisciplinary interactions, social context, and connections.

SOURCE Viking Cold Solutions

Related Links

http://www.vikingcold.com