Innovative climate protection - METRO Cash & Carry inaugurates solarthermic chilling system in Italy

Rome, 9 July 2008 – On Wednesday, METRO Cash & Carry Italy opened its first solarthermic chilling system. The Italian Minister for Economic Development, Claudio Scajola, inaugerated the innovative energy saving project in Rome. The installation uses solar energy to cool down the outlet in summer and to heat it in winter. With 3,000 m² solar collectors on the roof of the wholesale store, this system is the biggest one in its kind in Italian trade.

“By implementing the solarthermic system in Rome, METRO Cash & Carry advances its contribution to climate protection and once again underlines its innovative drive”, said Dominique Minnaert, Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Italy. “At the same time we are reducing the energy consumption of our store in Rome by 12 percent and can hence cut down our running costs.”

On a total area of 10,000 m² – which is about the size of a football field – the biggest solarthermic system in Italy composed of 3,000 m²  solar panels, substitutes electric power as well as natural gas. “By reducing the consumption of fossil energy in this way, the METRO Cash & Carry store in Rome can save a total of 200 tons of CO2 every year”, said Fabio Civardi, General Manager of METRO FIM, the real estate holding of METRO Cash & Carry Italy. This equals the emission of an average car driving 1.3 million kilometres or more than 30 times around the globe. The high-end solarthermic system uses the power of the sun to produce hot water which is directly applied to heat the store in winter and is converted to cooling capacity in summer.

“The forward looking project in Rome is an important element of our broad scale adoption of environmental friendly technologies”, said Raimund Berning, Head of Repair & Maintenance, METRO Cash & Carry International. The company already applies numerous innovations to reduce its energy consumption as well as the CO2 emissions. For instance, the METRO Cash & Carry store in Frankfurt, Germany, operates a cogeneration unit to generate part of its own power demand while at the same time also producing heat. In its store in Aalborg, Denmark, the company is testing a trendsetting cooling concept: fresh foods like meat, fruits and vegetables are displayed in closed departments. This avoids the effusion of coldness and leads to a more efficient energy use. Moreover, METRO Cash & Carry is running the project “Energy Saving Today”. Its goal is to optimize the store technology performance and thereby reduce energy consumption. In a first step, 30 locations will be modernized until end of 2008.

The solarthermic chilling system in Rome, mainly based on Italian technology, was designed by AP Engineering, the solar panels were supplied by Riello. The heat exchanger, with a power of 700 kw, was provided by Carrier, while the supplier of the cooling tower is EVAPCO. The installation of the system was done by Fintecno, Vercos, Tekind and CDZ-T.

METRO Cash & Carry is present in 29 countries with more than 600 self-service wholesale centers. With more than 100,000 employees worldwide, the company achieved sales of around € 30 billion in 2006. METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies worldwide. In 2007 the group reached sales of about € 66 billion. The company has a headcount of some 290.000 employees and operates over 2,400 outlets in 31 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry – world market leader in cash & carry wholesale, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores. More information at: www.metrogroup.de.

Contact:
METRO Cash & Carry International
Corporate Communications
Christian Maas
Schlueterstraße 1
40235 Duesseldorf
Phone +49 (0)211 6886-1326
Fax +49 (0)211 6886-1395
E-mail: christian.maas@metro.de
www.metro-cc.com