District cooling

A busy office. A full shopping centre. A hotel welcoming guests on a warm afternoon. Cooling helps make the places we share comfortable to use.

Cooling for the places that matter

Gren brings together cooling plants, networks and local expertise to serve the buildings where people live and work. We work with property owners, developers and municipalities to plan connections and operate the infrastructure behind their cooling supply.

District cooling at a glance

District cooling connects multiple buildings to a shared cooling supply through insulated underground pipes. Chilled water travels from a cooling plant to connected properties, providing cooling through each building’s own system to help maintain comfortable indoor temperatures. The warmer network water then returns to the plant to be cooled again.

The technologies used depend on the location. They can include electrically driven chillers and cooling that uses cold river water, with the combination changing according to seasonal conditions.

Connecting buildings with everyday comfort

Whether you are planning a new development, renovating an existing property or reviewing its cooling system, district cooling could be part of your plans. Your building and its location are the starting point. Our local teams can help assess cooling demand, network availability and connection options.

Every building uses cooling differently. A shopping centre welcomes changing numbers of visitors, an office follows the working day, and a hospital has its own operating requirements. Understanding these patterns helps shape the connection. Discussing cooling early also brings equipment, installation work and responsibilities into the wider project, with a clear view of the next steps.

 

 

Businesses and commercial properties
Indoor cooling for offices, shops, hotels and shopping centres, supporting the places where people work, visit and spend time.

Public buildings
Cooling for universities, hospitals, museums and other facilities serving the community.

Developers and municipalities
Cooling infrastructure planned from the outset for offices, hotels, supermarkets and other commercial buildings.

The benefits of a shared cooling network

A cooling substation can require less space than an on-site chiller installation, opening up possibilities for rooftops and technical areas. The building still needs its internal cooling equipment.

Gren operates and maintains the central cooling plant and network. Responsibilities for maintaining your building’s cooling substation and internal system are set out in the service agreement.

Where district cooling replaces on-site chillers, it can also reduce the noise and vibration associated with those units.

Cooling is distributed through your building’s own system, with temperature settings adjusted through its available controls.

Our local teams help with connection options and cooling-supply questions, bringing practical knowledge of the infrastructure and the buildings it serves.

Tartu – a downtown district cooling plant

Our high-efficiency district cooling plant in Tartu is located by the Emajõgi river and uses the river’s cool water as a natural cooling resource. Kvartal shopping centre in the heart of Tartu is one of our first customers from 2016.

Pärnu – using river water as a cooling source

In downtown Pärnu, our district cooling plant uses Pärnu’s river water as a natural cooling source and has the capacity to connect every downtown public building to its network. One of our first district cooling customer in Pärnu from 2019 is Pärnu Keskus shopping centre.

Tartu – cooling a large retail and leisure center

Aardla district cooling plant is designed to serve Lõunakeskus – it’s the largest shopping and leisure centre in Southern Estonia. Gren supplies the centre and the buildings nearby.

Planning a new building, renovating a property or considering a different cooling solution?

Jüri Moltsar

District heating & cooling sales specialist, Tartu

[email protected]

Hillar Nuut

District heating & cooling sales manager, Pärnu

[email protected]

Valdis Rieksts-Riekstiņš

District heating & cooling sales specialist, Latvia

[email protected]