Trigeneration: producing cooling from the waste heat of a cogeneration plant — the winning project of the 100 gREen AWARD 2025
The project “Trigeneration: producing cooling not from electricity, but from the waste heat of a cogeneration plant” ranks among the best green transformation projects of 2025 in the field of bioenergy!
The technology was implemented with the involvement of members of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine: EnergyCase company and Volodymyr Maistryshyn, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of UABIO.
About the project
An industrial refrigeration unit has been in operation for almost a year at one of Ukraine’s dairy plants; it generates cold not from electricity, but from the waste heat of a combined heat and power plant.
For Ukraine, this is not just an interesting engineering solution — it represents real resource savings and improved energy resilience.
Operational results
Gas savings amount to over 40%.
If the plant were cooled using conventional electric chillers, 1.4 MW of electrical power would be required for production needs. By utilising waste heat from cogeneration, 850 kW of CHP is enough.
100% industrial cooling — without electric compressors. The absorption chiller runs on waste heat and fully meets the production process’s cooling requirements.
The system has successfully passed through long blackouts and prolonged periods of freezing temperatures of -15 to -20 °C, despite the cooling tower operating in an open-loop configuration. There were no emergency situations and minimal staff intervention was required.
The client is currently considering purchasing two more of these machines to meet the cooling needs of health resorts. Given the current situation in Ukraine, this sends a very strong signal of confidence in the technology and the team.
The winners were selected by the Board of Global 100 RE Ukraine, which consists of representatives of green energy associations, including the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine. The best projects in each category were selected, and all teams involved in their implementation will receive awards. The 100 gREen AWARD-2025 recognise those who are truly changing Ukraine’s energy sector
