The use of digitalisation in data represents a significant asset for Enagás
Jan 13, 2025
Proactive
In an increasingly sustainable world, the use of resources that were previously considered waste has become a fundamental pillar of energy innovation.
One example of this growing trend can be found in projects that turn the residual cold from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification process into a valuable asset, creating sustainable cold.
Harnessing resources previously considered waste has become a key pillar of energy innovation
During the regasification process, liquid natural gas is at very low temperatures, around -160°C, generating a residual cold that in many cases is lost without being used.
However, Enagás, through its spin-off E4efficiency, has reversed this situation by exploiting this cold, promoting the so-called sustainable cold. Owing to this, it optimises the resources of its regasification terminals in Huelva and Barcelona, while at the same time promoting the circular economy, reducing its carbon footprint and increasing energy efficiency.
With this initiative, the company is taking a step further towards integrating clean technologies and reducing the environmental impact, demonstrating that even in the most complex industrial processes it is possible to find ways to maximise the use of resources and contribute to a more sustainable future.
The first application of sustainable cold by Enagás, with a small prototype, the “Shaky Project”, was launched more than five years ago at the LNG terminal in the Port of Huelva.
The “Shaky Project” is part of Enagás’ energy efficiency and sustainability strategy and uses the excess cold generated by LNG to create an innovative freezing system that allows the production of ice and the deep freezing of food, reaching temperatures below -40ºC. This project has also demonstrated the technical feasibility of distributing this cryogenic energy to businesses in the port area via a network of “industrial cold lines”.
The “Shaky Project” uses the excess cold generated by LNG to create an innovative freezing system
In this way, by scaling up the prototype, a project is currently being developed for the use of sustainable cold in the Huelva terminal, with a 3MW cold box and a 4km long distribution network of “cold lines”, which will make it possible to supply several cold logistics warehouses in the Port of Huelva, which will have a very competitive and sustainable energy supply at a very competitive and sustainable cost.
On the other hand, some of this LNG energy will be used for CO2 liquefaction and storage.
At the Enagás LNG terminal in the Port of Barcelona, a 15 MW residual cold recovery facility has recently been commissioned, generating 131 GWh per year of sustainable, low-carbon and competitive local energy and avoiding the emission of more than 32,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The residual cold resulting from the regasification process is recovered and injected at -20ºC into the largest urban refrigeration network in southern Europe, 4.5 km long, directly benefiting several important infrastructures in the area, such as the Fira de Barcelona, the offices of the Regional Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), industrial centres and buildings for tertiary use (offices, hotels, shopping centres) and public facilities, as well as residential customers and, in the future, Mercabarna, following an agreement signed with Veolia.
This project is the result of a close collaboration launched in 2009 between Veolia, Enagás, Barcelona City Council and local stakeholders in Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat to exploit the benefits of sustainable cold.
Local energy produced from residual cold will increase the competitiveness of local infrastructures, while accompanying the urban and sustainable transformation of the Barcelona port area and its surroundings.
Local energy produced from residual cold improves the competitiveness of local infrastructures
“All these initiatives demonstrate that sustainable cold is a key solution to ensure local supply and to face the global challenges of energy sovereignty and decarbonisation”, says Javier Ruesga, technologist at E4efficiency.