Innovative Emergency Power Concept: GETEC, ILM, Stadtwerke Niesky and Matthes KG work hand in hand
Niesky, November 23, 2023
This is what a successful partnership looks like: ILM Ingenieure GmbH, Stadtwerke Niesky GmbH, the energy service provider GETEC and Hellmuth Matthes KG Elektroinstallation und Anlagenbau have jointly implemented an emergency power concept for civil protection. It enables Stadtwerke Niesky, a provider of electricity, water and heat as well as wastewater disposal, to offer a cross-media general emergency power supply for its network area. The network covers the towns of Niesky, See and Ödernitz in Upper Lusatia.
Island operation in the event of a power failure
Since 2010, the GETEC biomass cogeneration plant in Niesky has been supplying around 1,500 residential and commercial units in the town area with around 12,000 MWh/a of green heat per year. This benefits a total of around 1,800 customers. In addition, GETEC feeds 36,000 MWh/a of electricity into the public grid in accordance with the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), thus already contributing to grid stability. "Thanks to the innovative emergency power concept, it is now possible to ensure temporary island operation for the grid area of Stadtwerke Niesky in the event of a large-scale and prolonged power failure," says Daniel Heimann, Managing Director of ILM Ingenieure GmbH.
From concept to functional test
"ILM was involved right from the start of the project in 2016 with the construction of the central 'switchgear' node in the medium-voltage network," reports Daniel Heimann. The electrical engineering company implemented the emergency concept and the emergency power supply in conjunction with GETEC's on-site wood chip power plant.
GETEC was responsible for the complex conversion of the power plant. As a prerequisite for island operation, the entire transfer switchgear, including digital protection technology, had to be replaced. In addition, the plant's turbine control system had to be redesigned to ensure stable island operation. "The implementation of island operation is the icing on the cake of GETEC's sustainable power supply concept for Niesky. The project is a prime example of cooperation between municipal and private companies," says Daniel Matzke, head of the biomass cluster at GETEC.
Hellmuth Matthes KG was involved in the practical implementation of this ambitious project on behalf of Stadtwerke Niesky from construction to completion and contributed its expertise. A special challenge was the final functional test of the island operation, for which the responsible persons rented a 2.5 MVA load bank. Here, too, ILM Ingenieure GmbH developed the corresponding technical solution on the grid side and was responsible for its implementation.
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