The Eden Ice Arena’s Green Machine

The Eden Ice Arena recently took possession of special refrigeration equipment from France that will allow indoor ice to be produced year round for the new Ice Skating Rink. While this is not the largest refrigeration system on the island it certainly is the most environmentally friendly machine. This machine will eventually be connected up to 20 kilometers of pipes, which when laid out on the rink floor will produce ice.

The machinery, valued at close to half a million Euros, uses the most advanced technology with a focus on energy efficiency with minimum stress on the environment. In fact the system will utilize the significant amount of heat generated to cool the ice to warm the water system within the soon to open Inter-Continental Hotel. It will also be used to melt the ice that is scraped off by the resurfacer, which cuts a layer of the ice off four times a day. The system is completely EC compliant and utilizes a system of freezing cold glycol which when circulated around the complex piping system at –14 degrees freezes the water on the surface.

The system will not place a significant strain on the primary water supply as it uses sea water that is purified through a large reverse osmosis plant contained within the Eden Leisure Group’s new complex. The installation of the machinery and then ice should take about four weeks as the water can only be cooled at 2 degrees per day once the machinery is installed. The system would be required to freeze an area of close to 80 cubic meters throughout the year. To give you an idea the area required is larger than a football field and the volume is about the volume of a normal sized swimming pool.

The enormous refrigeration system required to produce the ice that we will skate on has recently arrived in Malta and was last week lowered into the Eden Ice Arena plant room. This piece of equipment weighing over 7 tons was lowered into the plant using a special 130 ton crane due to its massive weight.

The Eden Ice Arena will open by the beginning of September and will offer a cool new entertainment option after the summer heat.