Summary

In Ridderkerk, there is a cluster of 12 companies on the "Veren Ambacht" industrial estate that are specialised in the area of fruit and vegetables. The cluster is made up of import and export companies, vegetable-processing companies and trading companies, all of which require refrigeration facilities. When the cluster was set up in1999, the firms opted - on the basis of a feasibility study subsidised by Novem - for central cold generation by means of a thermal power coupling installation with absorbtion cooling. Although not an innovation technologically, centralised cold generation does offer advantages, including energy savings.