Portrait:Safe Energy Supply for Vienna | |
Wien Energie supplies two million people with electricity, gas and – recently - also with cooling. The biggest national utility and TÜV AUSTRIA have been working together for decades.
The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine brought up the subject of energy in the headlines again. During 7 and 20 January there was a complete stoppage of the supply of Russian natural gas via Ukraine to Western Europe. “We have drawn our conclusions from the first Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict“ – that is the reason given by Robert Grüneis, Managing Director of Wien Energie, for the calmness with which Austria’s utilities reacted to the total with drawal of the Russiangas for nearly two weeks.
Around New Year 2006 Russia had reduced the supplies to Europe by about one third for three days. Compared to the stop of the supply of Russian natural gas in January 2009 that was only a skirmish. “Since then we invested heavily in storage capacities”, Grüneis states. At present more than 2.5 billion m³ of natural gas can be stored in Austria, which represents about one third of the annual demand.
Renewable energy
Today every modern utility must deal with the subject of sustainability and environmental compatibility. The electricity production of all eco-energy plants is to be tripled by 2010: The commissioning of the wind farm in Levél in Hungary in 2008 was a major step to reach this goal. In 2006 Europe’s biggest forest-biomass power station in Vienna Simmering went on line. In the meantime it provides electricity for 48.000 households and heating for
12.000 households. Some 190.000 tons of forest-biomass per year are being transformed into clean energy here.
Cooling for the climate
Energy consumption for air conditioning appliances will double by 2020. The tendency to more air conditioning increases the emission of fluorocarbons (CFC) and similarly noxious greenhouse gases. From 2009 the use of CFC in air conditioning plants is therefore completely prohibited.
Wien Energie offers an alternative: Waste heat from the existing caloric power stations or waste incineration is transformed in refrigeration centres. District cooling plants use much less electricity than conventional air conditioning, and the CO2 emissions caused are also much lower. In Vienna this forward-looking technology is already being used in all buildings of the „TownTown“ development area in the 3rd district. From summer 2009 the
Vienna AKH (“Allgemeines Krankenhaus”) will also be air-conditioned via district cooling. Managing Director Grüneis: “Energy is a topic which will determine our future. Our company will be a major formative factor for this in the Vienna metropolitan area.“
Decades of cooperation
Wien Energie and TÜV AUSTRIA have been cooperating for decades already on projects of safety and quality. “For new projects like the biomass power station or the repowering project in Simmering experts from TÜV perform all inspection services – from the first acceptance to the regular inspections.“
That is how Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Höltmann, Manager of the Pressure Equipment Division, underlines the close partnership between TÜV AUSTRIA and Wien Energie. Gerhard Höltmann:“There has been a well-tried base of trust for decades between the two companies. One can count on that.”
