Giessen. Stadtwerke Giessen used the past six months to modernise further parts of the combined heat and power plant at the Leihgesterner Weg site in Giessen. Among other things, this has resulted in an increase in the security of supply for the nearby hospital and university buildings.
Back in 2009, the municipal utilities began replacing the absorption chillers in the CHP plant, which were commissioned at the end of the 1970s. These units, which are fed with superheated steam, each have a cooling capacity of 4000 kilowatts. When the TREA went into operation, the SWG planners initially replaced the first chiller with a newer model that draws its energy from the hot water of the TREA. This means that the energy from the latest SWG heating plant can also be used efficiently and sensibly in summer.
The latest unit, which was installed in November, is a state-of-the-art turbo compressor with a cooling capacity of 3,500 kilowatts. It is powered by electricity generated directly on site by SWG's gas turbines using energy-efficient combined heat and power generation.
This means that three different types of system now guarantee the critical cooling supply for the hospital and university at the SWG site on Leihgesterner Weg: By selecting three independently available primary energy sources - namely steam, hot water and electricity - the SWG engineers have achieved significantly higher plant availability and thus also increased security of supply.