Auchan opened its first store in 1961 and has since grown into one of Europe's leading retail chains. The company is present in 12 countries with more than 2,000 stores. Its large-format store in Soroksár is located at one of Budapest's busiest commercial hubs.
Results
The operators of Auchan's Soroksár store faced a challenge all too familiar in industrial and commercial environments: the efficiency of their outdated, worn-out rooftop units had dropped drastically and their consumption had become unsustainable. This jeopardised employee comfort and health, the freshness of perishable goods and the operation of the equipment alike. Under the increasingly strict ESG regulations and sustainability requirements, the company could even have faced substantial penalties.
The consumption reduction obligation imposed on the store — no less than 28,000 GJ — left management with a difficult decision:
1: purchase energy saving certificates (ESCs) on the exchange,
2: pay the penalty, or
3: carry out a comprehensive modernisation project.
After extensive research, the operators ultimately chose the revolutionary Rooftop Retrofit™ solution from Oxyma Systems Kft., developed by the engineers of the air and water treatment specialist specifically to address situations like this quickly and effectively.
Nine Rooftop Retrofit™ modules — each consisting of a custom-designed air handling unit and an IntrCooll Plus unit with dual-circuit adiabatic IDEC technology — were installed in place of the store's old rooftop units. In addition, three stand-alone IntrCooll Plus units were fitted to provide direct cooling for critical indoor zones. To make the advanced system cool even more effectively, innovative solar screens were installed on the store's skylights. These light-transmitting blinds reduced the solar heat load by 70%, resulting in a further drastic reduction in energy use. The complete solution was rounded off by HydroBank™, Oxyma's in-house developed all-in-one water management station, which is responsible for supplying the entire system with filtered, purified and treated water.
The outcome of the project proved beyond doubt to AUCHAN's operators just how capable Oxyma's Rooftop Retrofit™ solution is: a constant indoor temperature of 25 °C and a supply of fresh air, and as a result more satisfied employees, happier customers and less waste among fresh produce.
All of this comes alongside an 85% saving in cooling and ventilation energy, a 43% reduction in fan power, 38% lower gas consumption, 365 tonnes less CO₂ emitted, and a total expected annual saving of €300,000 — achieved with a solution based on nature-inspired technology that requires no harmful refrigerants, so it not only complies with current ESG regulations but also has nothing to fear from future phase-outs.
