Work has started on what is being described as one of Europe’s greenest refrigeration systems at a farm in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Mackie’s of Scotland is heralding the arrival of the first parts of its £4.5m project that will increase and improve its ice cream production facility and reduce its carbon footprint,
The project is backed by £2.05m from the Scottish government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme and the 2014-2020 European Regional Development Fund programme.
Funding will be matched by an investment of more than £2.5m by Mackie’s, which is targeting carbon dioxide savings of up to 80% and energy costs of 70%-80%.
The new system will run on ammonia, powered by hot-water from a large biomass boiler that, through an absorption chiller, will cool to minus 15 degrees Celsius with minimal electrical input.
Conventional refrigeration compressors will reduce the temperature further to minus 30C where necessary.
The system will provide the temperatures needed at all stages of the production of Mackie’s ice cream.
The resultant quicker and colder way to freeze ice cream will bring further benefits to the business, improving the quality of the ice cream while helping it to increase production to meet growing demand, the company said.
Mackie’s managing director Mac Mackie said: “This freezer can be the final piece in the jigsaw to our farm becoming entirely self-sufficient in renewable energy.
“With our solar farm, wind turbines and existing biomass system powering 70% of our annual energy needs, the next stage was to look at ways of slashing our energy requirements.
“We first set out on the journey towards this refrigeration back in 2018 – and are grateful that the support from the Scottish government and the European Regional Development Fund will enable us to make this happen.
“It should create an exemplar low-carbon refrigeration plant for Scotland.
“This is a truly exciting development for us. Being able to produce more, higher quality ice cream is just another bonus resulting from our investment in further green technology.”
Mackie’s already produces more than 10 million litres of ice cream every year.
Its renewable energy is derived from four wind turbines, which produce 8500 megawatt-hours of electricity each year, and a 7000 panel solar farm.