Supervalu Sees Green with Refrigeration Upgrade

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Design Services Group (DSG), a subsidiary of Supervalu that designs and equips food stores, garnered an $86,000 grant from utility Dakota Electric from an energy-efficient refrigeration upgrade at a Supervalu Cub Foods store in Eagan, Minn.

Cub recently participated in Dakota Electric's EnergyWise program, and enlisted DSG to upgrade 275 linear feet of coolers to energy-efficient models. According to DSG, the upgrade will conserve an estimated 596,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually (enough to power 57 average homes for a year) and slash the store's electric bill by more than $20,000. The upgrade also earned Supervalu a matching $86,000 EnergyGrant from Dakota Electric.

"In addition to providing cutting edge design, DSG always looks for ways to value-engineer and save energy," said Mark Schultz, director of store development for Supervalu's Midwest Region. "In this case, the EnergyGrant from Dakota Electric made this upgrade possible. Running refrigeration accounts for nearly 45 percent of our electric bill, so this upgrade provides real savings that were easy to justify."

Dakota Electric awarded more than $511,000 last year to businesses that made energy-efficient upgrades to their facilities.

"As a member-owned cooperative, Dakota Electric is [charged with helping] our members save money and use our natural resources more wisely," said Tim Doherty, business account executive for Dakota.

In addition to conserving energy, the new coolers were designed by DSG to keep food fresh and easily visible.

DSG's services include architecture and engineering (mechanical, electrical, civil and structural), interior and brand design, store planning, project management, and equipment services, focused entirely on food operations.

Supervalu operates approximately 2,450 retail grocery locations and provides distribution and related logistics support services to more than 5,000 grocery endpoints across the country. It employs approximately 190,000 associates.
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