Cooperation between Supermarkets and Real Estate Owners; Energy Efficiency and Business Models

Background

Today, there are about 4000 Supermarkets in Sweden, and those account for about 3% of Swedish electricity use. Supermarkets have the potential to reduce overall energy use through delivering heating and air conditioning to stores and neighbouring buildings.

The overall aim of the project is to demonstrate, using theoretical calculations, modelling, energy measurements, monitoring and business model evaluation, that a collaboration for efficient use of heating, cooling and air conditioning between real estate and supermarkets owners can be achievable for both parties.

During the project, at least four case studies are investigated with focus on cooling, heat recovery and air conditioning. The results from the project will lead to the implementation of at least two cases of collaboration between supermarkets and real estate owners. The energy and business models that will be developed during the project will be freely available for the different stakeholders in the project.

Project publications

Journal papers:

• Steuer, D., Termens, J., Arias, J., and Sawalha, S., Thermal energy export from supermarket refrigeration systems: Drivers and barriers. Energy Reports, 2024. Volume 12, Pages 5875-5885. DOI: 10.1016/j.egyr.2024.11.068

• Steuer, D., Arias, J., and Sawalha, S., Techno-economic evaluation of heat recovery from supermarket refrigeration systems: A case study of four real-world installations. Applied Thermal Engineering. Volume 281, Part 3, 15 December 2025, no. 128637. DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.128637

• Steuer, D. Julin Wallén, A., Arias, J., and Sawalha, S., Heat recovery potential of Swedish grocery stores: Category-based analysis and national scale estimation. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2026, Volume 301, no. 131565. DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2026.131565

 Conference papers:

• Steuer, D., Andersson, E., Josefsson, F., Sawalha, S., and Arias, J., Cooperation for heat recovery from a supermarket's CO2 refrigeration system (pdf 1.1 MB) , 15th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants in Trondheim, Norway, 2022. DOI: 10.18462/iir.gl2022.0205

• Steuer, D., Josefsson, F., Arias, J., Sawalha, S., Optimising a supermarket refrigeration system with heat recovery to minimise operational costs (pdf 911 kB) , 26th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration in Paris, France, 2023. DOI: 10.18462/iir.icr.2023.0561

• Steuer, D., Almebäck, J., Magnius, R., Arias, J., Sawalha, S., Techno-economic analysis of heat export from supermarket refrigeration systems: field measurements a (pdf 909 kB) , 26th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration in Paris, France, 2023. DOI: 10.18462/iir.icr.2023.0549

• Steuer, D., Matos Martins, A., Strengboh, F., Sawalha, S., Arias, J., Supermarket retrofit of a refrigeration system with heat recovery and geothermal integration (pdf 954 kB) , 17th IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants in Hamilton, New Zealand, 2026. DOI: 10.18462/iir.gl2026.0071

M.Sc. thesis reports:

• Edwin Andersson, Cooperation for Heat Recovery: A Case Study on Heat Utilization From a Supermarket Refrigeration System. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2021. URL: Cooperation for Heat Recovery: A Case Study on Heat Utilization from a Supermarket Refrigeration System

• Filip Josefsson, Optimizing Energy System in a Supermarket: A case study analysis. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2022. URL: Optimizing Energy System in a Supermarket: A case study analysis

• Julia Almebäck and Rebecka Magnius, Heat Export from Supermarkets: Refrigeration Systems Field Measurements and a Techno-economic Analysis. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2022. URL: Heat Export from Supermarkets: Refrigeration Systems Field Measurements and a Techno-economic Analysis

• Aida Rossell Magriñá, A field measurements study of a supermarket refrigeration system with heat recovery. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2024. URL: A field measurements study of a supermarket refrigeration system with heat recovery

• Anton Julin Wallén, Heat recovery potential in Swedish food retail stores. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2025. URL: Heat recovery potential in Swedish food retail stores

• Jie Hao, Retrofitting Supermarket Refrigeration System with CO₂ Heat Recovery: A Comparative Study. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2025. URL: Retrofitting Supermarket Refrigeration System with CO2 Heat Recovery: A Comparative Study

• Alexandre Matos Martins, Supermarket retrofit from HFC/HFO to CO₂ booster refrigeration system: field measurements & modelling. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2025. URL: Supermarket retrofit from HFC/HFO to CO2 booster refrigeration system: field measurements & modelling

• Irfan Muhammad Arief, Smart Sharing: Optimizing Borehole Use Between a Supermarket and Residential Building. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2026. URL: Smart Sharing: Optimizing Borehole Use Between a Supermarket and Residential Building

B.Sc. thesis reports:

• Christ Asadour and Teodor Nymark, Litteraturstudie - Energieffektivisering av livsmedelsbutiker genom nyttjande av överskottsvärme. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2023. URL: Litteraturstudie - Energieffektivisering av livsmedelsbutiker genom nyttjande av överskottsvärme

• Henriksson, G., Iarca, I., and Ågren, L., Avtal och affärsmodeller för värmeåtervinning från livsmedelsbutiker. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2024. URL: Avtal och affärsmodeller för värmeåtervinning från livsmedelsbutiker

Reports:

• Josep Termens and Daniel Steuer, Befintliga affärsmodeller mellan livsmedelsbutiker och fastighetsägare för leverans av energi. CIT Renergy (Relivs) & KTH, 2023. Befintliga affärsmodeller samverkan (pdf 1.8 MB)

• Termens, J., Steuer, D.,Arias, J., and Sawalha, S., Exportera värme från livsmedelskyla - en vägledning för dig butikschef. CIT Renergy (Relivs) & KTH, 2024. Heat recovery guidance for supermarkets (pdf 3.4 MB)

• Termens, J., Steuer, D.,Arias, J., and Sawalha, S., Exportera värme från livsmedelskyla - en vägledning för dig fastighetsägare. CIT Renergy (Relivs) & KTH, 2024. Heat recovery guidance for property owners (pdf 4.8 MB)

• Case studies

  Supermarket	City/Municipality
  ICA Nära Humlegården	Stockholm
  ICA Maxi Stenhagen	Uppsala
  ICA Focus	Gothenburg
  ICA Kvantum Parken	Örebro
  City Gross Ytterby	Kungälv
  City Gross Mantorp	Mantorp
  City Gross Eskilstuna	Eskilstuna
  Hemköp Lundby Park	Gothenburg

Project partners

Contacts

Researcher:

Supervisors: