ALDI has already invested €62m in making stores more energy efficient since 2016.
ALDI Ireland has revealed plans to invest €7.2m in upgrading six of its stores across Ireland this year.
Alongside the recently opened renovated Athy store, Bandon, Ballinasloe, Mullingar, Sandyford, and Cashel will be part of the supermarket’s award-winning Project Fresh retrofitting programme, which overhauls a store’s infrastructure with energy-saving upgrades.
“The savings that we make through a programme like Project Fresh mean we can continue to invest in our store network”
Since the beginning of the programme in 2016, ALDI has invested €62m in the roll out of Project Fresh across its network of stores. This year, ALDI launched Project Fresh Enhanced, which will see for the first time exciting new units such as a fresh herb stand, a dedicated bread and cake fixture, and a Health and Beauty feature installed in the upcoming revamps.
Project Fresh innovations
To date, 93 stores have already been upgraded, with five more to be completed in 2023 and the remaining few stores to be revamped in 2024. Since 2016, all new stores and store extensions built and opened by ALDI have been built in the Project Fresh format.
Through the Project Fresh innovations, ALDI stores are significantly cutting their energy consumption with the use of modern and efficient chiller doors and refrigeration systems. This not only reduces each store’s environmental impact, but also allows ALDI to reinvest savings made in its store network to improve the overall shopping experience for customers and ensure that they are getting the freshest products at the lowest prices.
ALDI’s Project Fresh programme has delivered a number of key energy-saving infrastructure upgrades across its store network.
These upgrades include, among others:
- New store chiller doors to reduce refrigeration energy consumption by approximately 20%.
- Latest generation CO2 refrigeration packs, which make energy savings of 18% per store per year when compared to the same store in the previous year.
- LED lights, which use 60% less energy per year.
ALDI’s stores are also fully powered by green electricity. ALDI has invested heavily in improving its energy management systems and its entire store network is now powered by 100% wind generated energy. ALDI was the second retailer in Ireland to achieve ISO 50001 accreditation in recognition of its efforts to improve energy efficiencies.
“We are delighted to be at such an advanced stage of the rollout of our Project Fresh store upgrades,” said Colin Breslin, managing director Buying and Services Ireland at ALDI. “We have invested €62m in upgrading our stores since 2016 and we will invest €7.2m in a further 6 store upgrades throughout the country this year.
“Reducing energy consumption is an important goal for all of us and, at ALDI, we are deeply committed to a sustainable business model which is why we are always looking for opportunities and new ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Through initiatives like Project Fresh, we are playing our part in helping to meet the ambitions set out under the Government’s Climate Action Plan to halve emissions by 2030 and implement a carbon neutral economy by 2050.
“For our customers, they can be assured that when they shop at ALDI, they are shopping with a business that is acutely aware of our impact on the environment. The savings that we make through a programme like Project Fresh mean we can continue to invest in our store network to improve and enhance the in-store experience for our customers and, most importantly, guarantee the freshest produce at the lowest prices,” Breslin said.
