New Aalborg University Hospital to reduce emissions with sustainable district cooling

Spanning 330,000 square meters and housing multiple specialized healthcare facilities, New Aalborg University Hospital required a reliable cooling solution to support patient comfort, air quality, and critical medical equipment. Precise temperature and humidity control were essential, particularly during periods of peak demand.

The system also needed to meet strict sustainability goals while maintaining consistent, resilient performance throughout seasonal fluctuations in cooling requirements.

Aalborg Forsyning implemented a district cooling system at New Aalborg University Hospital that uses cold water from a nearby chalk lake as a stable thermal energy source. Sabroe ChillPAC chillers and Sabroe HeatPAC heat pumps extract and transfer heat from this source, converting naturally occurring temperatures into reliable cooling.

The lake supplies favorable temperatures for up to 80% of the hospital’s cooling demand, allowing the chillers and heat pumps to operate at lower capacity and with significantly reduced electricity consumption compared to conventional cooling systems. When seasonal conditions change and lake temperatures rises, the system dynamically increases output, using three  Sabroe ChillPAC chillers and two Sabroe HeatPAC heat pumps to maintain precise indoor conditions year-round. 

This integrated configuration provides greater flexibility than a conventional peak-only solution, enabling simultaneous cooling and heat recovery. By capturing and upgrading waste heat, the system can maintain consistent performance for the hospital with the potential to enable heat recovery for other customers.

Designed to support a large, complex healthcare environment, New Aalborg University Hospital’s district cooling system enables reliable, low‑noise cooling across patient areas, medical equipment, and critical hospital operations. Its compact plant footprint helps free space for clinical use while minimizing vibration and disruption to sensitive care environments.

With a planned cooling capacity of 11 MW, the system supports specialized treatment areas and mission‑critical equipment without compromising reliability

The district cooling system is expected to deliver:

• 80% projected electricity savings compared to legacy hospital systems
• Estimated annual CO₂ reductions of 500,000–700,000 tonnes
• Up to eight‑times higher efficiency compared to conventional cooling systems

New Aalborg University Hospital is a state-of-the-art healthcare facility in northern Denmark, spanning 330,000 m². It combines advanced medical services with sustainable infrastructure, including psychiatric care, oncology, patient hotel, outpatient services, and research facilities. The hospital is designed to deliver exceptional patient care while meeting ambitious environmental and energy efficiency goals.

Aalborg Forsyning is a municipal utility group providing district heating, cooling, gas, water, and energy services. The NAU project marks their first large-scale district cooling initiative, setting a benchmark for sustainable energy solutions in Denmark.