INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN |
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© Cold Link Africa
Dawie Kriel, general manager of Energy Partners Refrigeration, presenting at FRIGAIR 2025.
The servitisation model also facilitates the adoption of more advanced, often pricier, technologies.
“ With Cooling-as-a-Service, we absorb the upfront cost, allowing customers to benefit from optimal plant designs and the associated energy savings from day one, without compromising their budget.”
DATA, DIGITAL TWINS AND PROACTIVE OPTIMISATION
“ Our ability to guarantee efficiency stems from continuous, real-time Coefficient of Performance( COP) measurement,” Kriel explains.“ This data is compared against a digital twin of the system, allowing us to immediately identify any deviations from optimal performance.”
With 15- to 20-year contracts, Energy Partners is directly incentivised to maintain high COP. Continuous measurement( every 30 seconds to three minutes)
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ensures proactive maintenance and timely intervention. The data is then transformed into clear, actionable insights for customers and used for root cause analysis, predictive capabilities, and smarter control systems.
“ Our operational hierarchy prioritises uptime and compliance above all else. A refrigeration system, regardless of its efficiency, is useless if it ' s not running or if it ' s shut down due to non-compliance. Once these foundational elements are secured, we then focus on efficiency optimisation.”
SOLAR-ASSISTED REFRIGERATION AND SITE-WIDE OPTIMISATION
Energy Partners also takes a broader view of energy consumption, incorporating solar power and site-wide data to reduce cooling costs. For example:“ in systems where solar power is integrated, we observe a direct correlation: when the solar system is actively generating, the refrigeration system’ s power consumption drops significantly.”
This‘ solar-assisted refrigeration’ allows for strategic load shifting, taking advantage of cheaper solar power during the day.
TACKLING HIDDEN INEFFICIENCIES: CONTROL STABILITY
Instability in control systems often causes energy waste through unnecessary cycling of components.
“ Our remote monitoring capabilities allow us to identify and rectify these instabilities, often without needing to dispatch a technician to the site,” says Kriel.
For example, a remote adjustment from Cape Town to a plant in Limpopo resulted in improved control and measurable energy savings.
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CASE STUDY: DAIRY CUSTOMER LOAD MANAGEMENT
In Durban, a dairy customer needed to avoid Eskom loadshedding penalties without switching off critical refrigeration. Energy Partners leveraged their ice storage system to shift a 400kW cooling load during peak demand.
By temporarily halting ice-building and remotely adjusting the system, they absorbed the load impact and achieved R1-million in savings, with only a 1.5 ° C increase in water temperature – well within tolerable limits.
THE FUTURE: AI, AUTONOMY AND ' SANPO YOSHI '
“ The true power of AI in our field lies in its integration with machine learning and neural networks, combined with our digital twin technology,” Kriel states.
Autonomous optimisation is on the horizon. Energy Partners’ plants are already evolving from static operation to learningbased optimisation.
“ The core appeal of servitisation lies in its alignment with the Japanese Sanpo Yoshi philosophy – value for seller, buyer and society,” Kriel concludes.“ CaaS delivers guaranteed efficiency to clients, lower energy consumption to the environment, and stable revenue to the provider – a winwin-win.”
Q & A SESSION HIGHLIGHTS
Contract periods:
“ Our standard contract terms range from 10 to 20 years, with some exceptional cases extending to 25 years. We also offer CaaS for shorter durations, where customers retain ownership of their plant while we ensure efficiency and absorb operational and maintenance risks.”
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Tariff structure:“ Our tariffs are customised, typically hybrid in structure. They often include:
• A fixed availability fee( based on capital investment)
• An escalating service / maintenance fee
• A variable consumption fee linked to electricity costs and guaranteed COP”
Strategic conversations:
CaaS unlocks high-value conversations at C-suite level, shifting the focus from equipment specs to business performance. Annual strategic reviews ensure the solution evolves with the client’ s needs. Customer-reported benefits include:
• Focus on core business: Less time and internal resources spent on cooling operations.
• Optimised capital use: Funds can be redirected into growth areas like acquisitions or production.
CONCLUSION: A SMARTER WAY TO STAY COOL
CaaS is more than just a new business model – it represents a smarter, future-fit way of thinking about energy efficiency, operational risk, and sustainability. By shifting the burden of capex, compliance, and performance management to a trusted partner, clients can unlock immediate and long-term value without compromising on quality or uptime.
In a world facing rising energy costs, skills shortages, and increasing environmental pressure, Energy Partners’ CaaS offering provides industrial and commercial players with a de-risked, data-driven path to reliable cooling. Backed by technology, insight, and a long-term partnership mindset, it’ s a model built not just for today ' s challenges – but for tomorrow ' s opportunities. CLA
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