Adoption of CO2 solutions in convenience stores
The GUIDE Japan 2016, published on 28 June, identifies commercial refrigeration as the strongest growth area for natural refrigerant technology in Japan – with recent development driven almost exclusively by convenience stores (CVS).
CVS have profited from an immense revamp in terms of refrigeration over the last two years. In March 2014, Japan had 190 stores using CO2 transcritical systems. Fast-forward to February 2016, and this number had increased nearly sevenfold. This was primarily driven by the adoption of CO2 solutions in CVS.
The three largest convenience store franchise chains, Lawson, 7-Eleven and Family Mart, all have CVS that use CO2 technology, collectively accounting for 1,463 installations out of the three chains’ total of 41,085 CVS across Japan. While this amounts to just fewer than 4% of the three chains’ stores, the number is expected to increase dramatically in future.
Indeed, CO2 refrigeration has been standard in all new Lawson stores since September 2014. Lawson currently has 1,300 natural refrigerant-based systems in operation, and their impressive rollout over the past two years shows that this number could quickly escalate.
Other prominent Japanese retailers have also committed to converting their CVS to CO2 refrigeration, such as AEON under their Ministop brand, boosting future growth potential still further. In addition 7-Eleven, which has over 18,000 stores in Japan and installs around 1,500 CVS annually (including remodelled stores), has also spoken of the possibility of installing CO2 refrigeration in all of its model store showcases in the future.
CO2 absent from larger stores
However, this trend of CO2 transcritical installations in smaller shops does not extend to larger supermarkets, due to regulations in Japan that restrict the use of larger capacity package systems or ‘rack’ systems.
While European and North American supermarkets utilise CO2 systems that operate upwards of 200kW, the ‘High Pressure Gas Safety Act’ in Japan makes the use of similar equipment difficult due to safety concerns related to CO2’s high-pressure properties, which are seen as outdated, especially given that technology has moved on significantly since the act was first adopted. As a result of the Act, in order to use CO2 systems, Japanese supermarkets would have to employ multiple systems to achieve the desired cooling capacity.
Only 72 large supermarkets out of 20,015 in Japan use CO2 refrigeration systems and most of these were only introduced in 2014-2015 (although the first one was installed in 2009 by AEON).
Even though AEON is still steeped in difficult regulatory constraints, they are attempting to use CO2 in supermarkets. AEON’s 21,500 m2 General Merchandising Store in Chiba City serves as a great example of how the company is able to meet the requirements of the High Pressure Gas Safety Act, as 20 separate CO2 refrigeration systems are employed to provide cooling to the 144 CO2 showcase units in the store.
Government subsidies driving uptake of CO2
The Japanese Ministry of Environment (MOE) is taking various steps to actively combat rising HFC emissions in the retail refrigeration sector. The main way to achieve this is by providing subsidies for food retail refrigeration systems and showcases.
Technology using natural refrigerants has been improved in efficiency and safety, but not yet spread widely. To address this situation, the Ministry of Environment financially supports installations of high efficiency equipment with natural refrigerants,”
said the MOE.
In 2014, the budget was JPY five billion (€44.9 million). It was increased to JPY 6.2 billion (€55.7 million) in 2015. For the current Japanese fiscal year, the MOE has allocated JPY 7.3 billion (€57.3 million). This large allowance helped 557 individual commercial refrigeration installations in 2015, up from 409 in 2014. The number of companies aided was 23 and 24 in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
About the GUIDE Japan
‘GUIDE to Natural Refrigerants in Japan – State of the Industry 2016’ is the most recent addition to shecco’s GUIDE series, this time focusing on the key market, technology and policy trends for natural refrigerants in Japan.
The GUIDE to Natural Refrigerants in Japan is now available to download for free at http://publication.shecco.com/publications/view/2015-guide-natural-refrigerants-japan and https://issuu.com/shecco/docs/guide_japan-2016.
