Under the most central streets of Paris, a 75 km long tube maze operates underground in order to keep certain parts of the city cool. These tubing carry water that has been cooled to special facilities before being distributed throughout the French capital, to offices, malls and museums, including the Louvre.
In a country where air conditioning is rare, the telecooling network offers just that. The holding company «Fraicheur de Paris», a subsidiary of Angie SA, states that the system is more environmentally friendly as it consumes 50% less electricity than an autonomous system and reduces emissions by half.
As Bloomberg reveals, the network, which uses water from the Seine as part of the cooling process, is currently under intense pressure due to the record high temperatures that have prevailed across the continent. CEO Mari Carlo said cooling units operate 24 hours a day, while huge demand, as well as occasional power cuts, mean that sometimes they cannot cool the water as much as usual.
Despite pressure on its operation, Carlo says that telecooling will become even more important in response to climate change and the most extreme weather phenomena.
The last heat wave in Europe struck the continent before the usual summer peak of temperatures in July. In Paris, he forced the Louvre and Eiffel Tower to close earlier than usual this week. Across the continent, transport was discontinued, crops were damaged, while schools and kindergartens were forced to close.
It has also been linked to a series of deaths, which has become a recurring phenomenon in Europe. Over 60,000 people likely died due to hot temperatures in the summer of 2022, and about 47,000 people in 2023.
«What was formerly considered a comfort solution, now turns into a matter of life and death», said Carlo this week, during a tour of the Fraicheur de Paris facility. «These days we have a great demand for connections.».
Telecooling is used in several cities, such as Zurich, Singapore, and Chicago. The basic procedure consists of the use of cooling agents to cool the water to a temperature of up to 4 degrees Celsius. Water, in a closed loop system, is drawn to the customer buildings to produce cool air. As it warms up, it returns to the facility to cool again. As part of the cooling process, water from a local source is pumped through heat exchangers.
Started in the 1970s
It has been used on a small scale in Paris since the 1970s, but began to actually develop in the 1990s. Since then, the «Fraicheur de Paris» has been extended to 14 cooling units, as well as large tanks and ice tanks.
One of the facilities, on the banks of the Seine near Place du Canada, is a real intersection of pumps, pipes and machinery. There is a strong, continuous buzz as the «Refrigerators» – deep below ground – cool large volumes of water before channeling it through dozens of pipes to feed customers’ air conditioning systems. Above them, as part of cooling operations, heat exchangers use water from the Seine, which is regularly returned to the river slightly warmer.
The «Fraicheur de Paris», which operates by concession from the municipality, feeds more than 900 customers, from office buildings to landmarks such as Garnier Opera. Its aim is to add more facilities and nearly 100 km of pipes to triple the number of connected facilities by 2042 when its concession expires.
Continued demand growth
The company says there are requests to speed up its planned expansion. It also accepts requests for association from a wide range of businesses and public services, including commercial property owners, department stores, entertainment and hospitals.
Carlo said one of the challenges of expansion is the space for the new cooling facilities. To expand the pipeline network, about half requires digging pedestrians, while the rest can be installed in the existing sewerage network, meaning that new customers can sometimes be connected in less than a year.
The mayor of Paris, Emanuel Gregoire, states that telecooling is now vital to the city: «The development of this cooling network is of strategic importance, as it is not based on the individual use of air conditioners, which presents huge disadvantages in terms of excessive energy consumption and heat emissions», report. «Waves should no longer be treated as crisis situations, but as recurring phenomena».
