Environment-friendly energy for industrial estates in Austria – Siemens equips two unit-type district-heating power stations operated with biofuels

Erlangen, Aug 18, 2006, The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) Group has received an order from Raiffeisen-Leasing Wärmeversorgungsanlagenbetriebs GmbH, Vienna, to act as the general engineering contractor for the erection of two unit-type district-heating power stations in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The final customer is Wirkungsgrad Energieservice GmbH. Operated with liquid biofuels, the environment-friendly district-heating power stations will supply two industrial estates in the city of Dornbirn with electricity and heat. The total volume of the project is four million euros and the power stations are scheduled to start operating as early as the fall of 2006.

The two new unit-type district-heating power stations will be built in the Dornbirn industrial parks called “Rhomberg´s Fabrik” – Austria’s fourth largest industrial estate – and “Areal 23” and will each generate an output of 1.2 MWel. To supply the industrial parks with electricity and heat in a manner which is most compatible with protection of the environment, the two power stations are primarily to be operated with biofuels made of processed old edible oils and fats. These fuels contain practically no sulphur and possess excellent igniting and burning characteristics. This reduces the emission of pollutants considerably compared to the use of fossil fuels.

For the two unit-type district-heating power stations, Siemens is supplying all the technical equipment. This includes the following items for each location: an eight-cylinder heavy-oil motor for burning the old edible oil, a generator, the medium and low-voltage distribution equipment and also a system for cleaning flue gas. In respect of the latter, a DeNOx catalyzer with an efficiency of 95 per cent will be used to remove mainly nitrogen oxides from the flue gas. This ensures that the strict Austrian emission regulations will be more than complied with. Siemens is also responsible for the automation of all important technical processes in the power station and is to install a Simatic WinCC visualization system. Moreover, Siemens is responsible for hardware and software engineering as well as for installation and commissioning. The heavy-oil motors will be provided by the Anglo Belgian Corporation BV (ABC), Gent, Belgium, and the flue-gas cleaning system by the Swiss HUG Engineering AG.

Wirkungsgrad Energieservice GmbH, located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, builds and operates combined heat and power generation installations and biomass heating power stations for the production of environment-friendly energy. Before this project, Siemens had supplied and installed the technical equipment for the Stöcken unit-type district-heating power station of Wirkungsgrad Energieservice GmbH. Operated with vegetable oil, this power station has been operating since June 2005 and has an output of 3.5 MWel.

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The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses its own products and systems and process technologies in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2005 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 31,700 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 5.390 billion.

Reference number: I&S 0706.5531 e

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Dr. Rainer Schulze

Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group

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