Visualization and control of the processes of cooling and freezing at Frigo in the Dutch town of Moerdijk

Frigo is a Dutch company specializing in both national and international logistic services, which encompass food storage, transportation, documentation, and inspection reports.

One of the company's core values is sustainability. By using, for example, solar and wind power, groupage and inland shipping, they significantly reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

As a result of a new warehouse built in Moerdijk, Frigo is currently experiencing immense growth – the company's storage capacity has increased to about 85,000 pallets.

Because of the limited availability of the local energy grid's capacity and a large solar-panel array of 1.6 MWh (peak), a custom energy management system was required for the new site.

In 2022 and 2023, Chiron-tec provided a custom control solution for the Moerdijk warehouse. It schedules the required cooling and freezing in various rooms based on load and available energy sources. The installed solar-panel array is controlled based on the site's current total energy load as the local energy grid's capacity does not allow for the return of solar energy to the grid.

Control system

The control system consists of three Siemens SIMATIC PLCs and the Reliance SCADA/HMI system. It is used to control and visualize the warehouse's:

• Cooling/freezing plantroom
• Cooler and freezer rooms
• Solar panels
• Diesel generator
• Energy usage
• Load switching

In addition, all energy sources and consumers are visualized in the system to provide insight into energy generation, usage, and actual costs.

The following special features are also part of the control system:

• Energy management with the control of solar-panel capacity
• Custom report generation
• Dynamic control of energy prices

Examples of visualization windows