Varberg builds district cooling: 14 MW from seawater and waste heat, for SEK 260 million

Varberg Energi is expanding a district cooling network (fjärrkyla) in central Varberg, on Sweden’s west coast, which is meant to replace individual chillers in buildings and ease the load on the electricity grid, the company announced on 3 November.

How it works. The system, scheduled to start operating in 2028, will have 9 kilometres of distribution network and a maximum connected capacity of 14 MW in the first phase, expandable in steps to 18–20 MW, according to Energi magazine. From October to March, the cooling comes from Kattegat seawater, via a plant in Varberg harbour with a 3,000 m³ storage tank. In summer, when the sea is too warm, a 4 MW absorption chiller uses waste heat from the Södra Cell Värö pulp mill, about 20 kilometres to the north, which already supplies the town’s district heating. A 2.5 MW compressor chiller is added at the Hallands sjukhus Varberg hospital.

The numbers. The investment is estimated at SEK 260 million, with a payback period of 30 years. Nearly 40 property owners are located along the routes; the largest customer will be the hospital, and others include the town hall, the Varbergs Stadshotell hotel and Campus Varberg. About half of the trunk network has already been built. According to the company, the chillers in the town centre contain nearly 10 tonnes of refrigerants, with a potential climate impact of around 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent if they leak.

Background. “We see this as one of Varberg’s most important sustainability and environmental projects since the district heating network was expanded 25 years ago,” Peter Öhman, sales manager at Varberg Energi, told Energi magazine. The municipality’s population is expected to grow from 70,000 to more than 80,000 by 2040, and demand for cooling is rising with warmer summers.

What comes next. A central element of the project is Magasin 7, the building that Varbergs Fastighets AB is developing in the northern part of the Västerport district. The project is being run together with the consultancy FVB.

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