Energy-efficient free cooling system cools South America's tallest building

When completed, the 300-metre-high Costanera Center in the Chilean capital of Santiago will be South America’s tallest building and the second-tallest in the Southern Hemisphere. Alfa Laval is supplying a cooling solution for the project which involves the use of cold water from a nearby river. The result is a unique, energy-efficient free cooling system.

The building has become a symbol of the economy in Chile,”
- Sergio Cerda, Sales Engineer Refrigeration and Cooling at Alfa Laval Chile.

Alfa Laval Chile provides components for the cooling system for all four buildings. “Cencosud came to us because of our expertise,” says Sergio Cerda. “They asked us what options existed for using water from the river, whose temperature can be just 6 degrees Celsius in the winter, for cooling. We carried out a study and proposed some alternatives.”

The resulting solution uses water from the nearby Canal San Carlos. This is understood to be the first time river water has been used in this way for cooling in South America.

“Using river water makes the system very energy-efficient,” says Sergio Cerda. “In this way, the customer saves a lot of energy.”

Non-stop cooling

To guarantee system performance, Cencosud ordered the ALF Filter solution in each of the six M30 heat exchangers to ensure non-stop operation and to maximise the life of the plate heat exchangers.

Two of the project’s challenges were the limited amount of space available for installing the equipment, and the sheer height of the buildings. Alfa Laval’s solution included the installation of 16 pressure breakers – four in each building roughly halfway up – to alleviate the water pressure created in such tall buildings.