Last year, Stadtwerke Giessen worked flat out to renew both the district heating and electricity network of the former Armstrong barracks in order to prepare the site for the initial reception of refugees.
Giessen. 700 metres of district heating line, a mobile heating container, around two kilometres of electricity cable and six cable distributors: In just twelve weeks, Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) set up a completely new energy supply and modernised the existing infrastructure on the site of the former Armstrong barracks in Büdingen. "When it became clear that the Hessian Initial Reception Centre (HEAE) was to be set up here, everything had to happen very quickly," explains project manager Christian Spratte from the heating supply department at Stadtwerke Giessen. As the former heating system could no longer be put into operation, SWG decided to set up a mobile heating container with a thermal output of two megawatts. In addition, the regional energy supplier laid a new district heating line with a total length of over 700 metres and installed new transfer stations in all the houses.
Electricity grid renewed
The experts from the municipal utilities also had some work to do on the existing electricity grid. "We took over a so-called area network on the site and renewed it," explains Michael Klein, Energy & Water Networks Department at SWG. "All the old cables were taken out of service and replaced with new ones in order to bring the power grid up to the current state of the art," continues Michael Klein. A new medium-voltage switchgear was added to an existing transformer station. The two transformers, each with an output of 630 kilovolt amperes (kVA), were put back into operation after extensive testing and maintenance. "Once the expansion is complete, we will be able to supply the area network with an output of 800 kVA," says Michael Klein.
CHP planned for connection area
And the work continues: a residential and commercial area will be developed on the site of the former barracks in future. "SWG will expand the newly constructed district heating network and add a CHP unit to the generation plant," says Christian Spratte. By generating electricity and heat at the same time, a CHP unit can utilise the resources used much more effectively, meaning that the use of primary energy can be significantly reduced. As a result, theCO2 emissions of such a system are around a third lower than with separate heat and power generation.
06.04.2016