American components manufacturer Copeland has announced the opening of a new engineering and technology center in Pune, India, that it said will help drive “natural refrigerants adoption” in India.
The new facility measures 15,000m2 (161,458ft2) and employs 320 people working in engineering, research and development, and software and firmware development. In addition to natural refrigerants, the facility will also “drive innovation in energy transition, low-GWP adoption and sustainable cold chain solutions engineering,” according to the company.
NaturalRefrigerants.com has reached out to Copeland about the specific natural refrigerant technologies the Pune R&D center will be working on.
Investing in India: The new engineering and technology center is dedicated to in-country innovation and product development for the data center, HVAC and cold chain sectors. Copeland said it invested $58.4 million (€54 million) in the new facility.
- Copeland noted that the Indian data center market has an estimated CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8% from 2024–2030. Total installed data center capacity was estimated at 1.4GW in 2024, up from 139MW in 2019.
- The company also cited data showing that the country’s HVAC market will grow to $30 billion (€27.7 billion) by 2030 with a CAGR of 15.8%.
- “With more than 15% of our global engineering team located in India, the local team plays a vital role in developing sustainability-focused technologies and products for both local and global customers,” said CEO Ross B. Shuster.
Around the world: In August 2024, Copeland announced a collaboration with South Korean commercial refrigeration manufacturer CRK on a “large-scale government project” to develop CO2 (R744) technologies for South Korea’s cold chain.
- In May of 2024, Copeland announced the expansion of its Cookstown, Northern Ireland, compressor plant to meet the increasing need for “sustainable, low-carbon heat pumps” in Europe.
Quotable: “As global demand for sustainable solutions continues to rise, this new engineering and technology center will focus on advancing energy-efficient and low-GWP and natural refrigerant technologies for global deployments across the HVAC and refrigeration industry,” said Shuster.
