SWITZERLAND – The leaders behind the innovative Plan-les-Ouates district heating project in Geneva have decided to use two Carrier AquaForce water-cooled screw chillers featuring the new Puretec refrigerant to deliver optimal performance. The AquaForce chillers with Puretec refrigerant will be used in conjunction with the next-generation, low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant HFO-1234ze(E), thereby providing 2.5 megawatts of total heating capacity in an environmentally sustainable package.

The first phase of the mixed-use real estate development project in Plan-les-Ouates involves the energy efficient recovery and re-use of waste heat from a data center onsite which will then be used to provide heating to local offices and other facilities. In the following phase of the project, the extended installation is due to provide heating for 3,000 individual homes within a planned residential zone. This project will be the first district heating project in Europe to be based on a water-cooled screw chiller using the new Puretec refrigerant which is compliant with new European Union fluoronated gases regulation.

The new Puretec technology has been manufactured and tested by Carrier France in its Montluel factory, located near Lyon, France and the system was subsequently delivered by Walter Meier Company, Carrier’s distributor in Switzerland. The system installation was completed in June while the commissioning is scheduled to take place at the end of this month.

“Having demonstrated world-class quality, testing capabilities and a compelling proof-of-concept, Carrier is proud to present and install this revolutionary solution in Europe, alongside its distributor partner,” declared Didier Genois, the engineering and marketing HVAC Europe director for UTC Building & Industrial Systems. “We’re proud to deliver Europe’s first installation of a water-cooled screw chiller with the new Puretec very low global warming refrigerant.”

The Puretec refrigerant has a GWP value of just 7 and the company expect that its use will reduce the direct global warming potential of traditional refrigerants for this application by 99.5 percent.

“As a pioneer of sustainable solutions, Carrier is committed to deploying technologies that minimize environmental impact while serving customer needs,” stated John Mandyck, the chief sustainability officer with UTC Building & Industrial Systems. “With the introduction of the AquaForce line of indoor and outdoor chillers with PUREtec refrigerant, Carrier is once again taking the lead in the development of environmentally responsible solutions.”