Stadtwerke Giessen (SWG) and Justus Liebig University are expanding their close cooperation. Yesterday, representatives of both partners put the new energy centre for the Philosophikum 1 and 2 into operation. Over the next 16 years, SWG will supply cooling to all buildings from here.
In addition to competent teaching staff and suitable premises, the right climatic conditions are also needed for concentrated study. Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) is now providing pleasant temperatures in the Philosophikum 1 and 2 at Justus Liebig University (JLU). Both in winter and summer - with environmentally friendly district heating and efficiently generated cooling. The latter is generated in a new energy centre, which representatives of the university and SWG officially inaugurated on 1 September. SWG has invested a total of around 4.4 million euros in the energy centre, the cooling unit, the house connections, the pipe networks and the necessary measurement and control technology.
The state is financing this investment via a building cost subsidy and via the purchase price for energy under the energy supply contract concluded between Justus Liebig University and SWG. This project is part of a comprehensive reorganisation and expansion of the infrastructure in the Philosophikum.
The best provider in Europe
This project, which is unusually large even for SWG, does not end with the commissioning of the plant and the supply networks. This is because the university and SWG have concluded a contracting agreement, the core of which is the supply of cooling for the next 16 years.
SWG will also supply the properties of the Philosophikum with district heating. The energy experts from Lahnstrasse were able to impress with this overall package and were successful in a Europe-wide tender. The object was the financing, planning and construction of a new grid-connected cooling supply including an energy centre as well as the supply and sale of heating and cooling. "It makes me a little proud that we were able to prevail with our apparently attractive offer," explained Matthias Funk, Technical Director of SWG, at the inauguration. But it's not just the municipal utilities that are pleased about the conclusion of the contracting agreement. Katherina Hannemann, Head of the Real Estate, Construction and Technology Department at JLU and as such responsible for energy matters, adds: "We can look back on years of successful cooperation for both sides in terms of heating, cooling and steam. I am sure that everything here in the Philosophikum will also run to our satisfaction."
Designed for the future
Only one efficient compression chiller with an output of 2.2 megawatts is still operating in the energy centre. But that is just the beginning. "The overall project is divided into two phases," reveals Matthias Fink, Head of the District Heating Department at SWG. With the completion of the new Seminar Building II and the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), only part of the planned buildings, which are to be realised as HEUREKA measures in accordance with the master plan for the Philosophikum campus area, have been completed. The construction of the new university library has just begun and the other new construction projects for a seminar building and the cafeteria are in the planning stage.
It goes without saying that the engineers have already taken into account the planned extension and dimensioned the networks accordingly. And the increase should not be underestimated: The heated area will grow from a good 64,000 square metres by a further 53,000 square metres, which will increase the heat requirement from around 10 gigawatt hours by 4.8 gigawatt hours. In order to get the necessary heat into the buildings, SWG laid 3,550 metres of pipe and completely renewed the old heating network. The situation is very similar for cooling. The area to be cooled, currently around 51,200 square metres, will almost double in future. This makes an additional cooling unit of a comparable size necessary. And a refrigeration network 2,900 metres long. "Of course, we have already laid all the necessary pipes so that we don't have to dig again," explains Matthias Fink.
Keyword digging: Pipeline construction usually means extensive earthworks and subsequent restoration of the surface. The contract provided for a special feature at this point in particular. For example, the existing paving was largely reused. In addition, the design specifications for the buildings and the outdoor area had to be taken into account. "That was a perfect success," says a delighted Katherina Hannemann. SWG also honoured another commitment: University operations were maintained throughout the entire construction period. And last but not least, SWG dismantled old supply lines that were no longer needed and disposed of them professionally.
Almost three years
SWG began installing the pipe network in Philosophikum 1 back in October 2018. Work on the network in Philosophikum 2 began in March 2020 and was embedded in the construction project by Landesbetrieb Bau und Immobilien Hessen (LBIH) for the new construction and partial renewal of the technical infrastructure for the planned new buildings and the existing buildings in the Philosophikum campus area. The energy centre was built between October 2020 and June 2021, with SWG installing the necessary technology in the individual buildings in the meantime.
"We were already able to start supplying heat to Philosophikum 1 in the summer of 2019," recalls Matthias Funk. In the neighbouring area, hot water flowed from the heating plant into the transfer stations of the various properties for the first time in August 2020. The chiller in the energy centre went into operation in July of this year.