Andreas Meier, Managing Director of TEKO, a member of the Clean Cooling Coalition, has discussed his company trajectory towards the uptake of carbon dioxide/CO2 (R744) systems in commercial and industrial refrigeration in a live interview with ATMOsphere’s Marc Chasserot during the ATMO World Summit, 30-31 March 2022.
The 45-minute interview can be viewed on R744.com, YouTube (ATMOsphereTV), LinkedIn and at the link below.
TEKO is German-based refrigeration systems original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that celebrated in 2022 its 40 years of operation in commercial and industrial refrigeration. Recalling TEKO’s journey embracing natural refrigerants, Meier showed the percentages of yearly sold units according to refrigerants. Natural refrigerant R744 took less than 20% of yearly sales in 2012; however, the share increased exponentially to cover over 90% of yearly sold systems in 2021.
Meier also showed the sales trend since 2016, showcasing a 170% in 2021 (baseline year 2016). This, explained Meier, is mainly due to the company’s positioning on the whole European market and the EU F-Gas Regulation kicking in with the phase down of HFCs and bans targeting commercial refrigeration. “A GWP of 10 or 50 should be introduced across all different applications, everything is ready,” he remarked calling for a more ambitious piece of legislation.
“European manufacturers are leading in natural refrigerants,” Meier stated highlighting the competitive edge of European manufacturers.
Meier also touched upon heat pumps in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fearing lobbying efforts would stand against improvements of the EU F-Gas Regulation. “Every big company has already heat pumps with natural refrigerants in its portfolio,” stated Meier, stressing that “for the domestic market, it is not a big problem.”
Meier also shared insights on issues related to supply chain from China, as well as COVID-19 related delays and the opening of a production site for R744-based equipment for the commercial and industrial sector in Colombia, South America. On the HFO/TFA issue, he stated that “we know what is happening on the long-term, […], and I am not sure if these refrigerants are the right solution; these new solutions are already dead.”
