The new inner-city Südstadthöfe district is being built on the site of the former Südbahnhof station in the middle of Heilbronn on around 72,000 square meters of land.
350 apartments, a medical center and two student dormitories will be built there by 2019. ZEAG Energie AG is not only the owner of two of the buildings there, but also supplies the entire district, including individual apartments and business offices, with decentralized local heating.
To this end the regional energy supplier built an energy center with two environmentally friendly combined heat and power units (CHP) and two condensing boilers and had us design and implement the MSR technology for the project.
The two CHPs generate heat and supply it to the buildings via decentralized transfer stations. Additional heat storage tanks installed in each house compensate for higher consumption in the morning and evening hours. The combined heat and power plants also generate electricity at the same time. Photovoltaic systems installed on each roof supply any additionally required electricity to the district. This concept saves more than 30 percent in fuel and, due to the very high efficiency of the system, tons of CO2 emissions.
The higher-level control of the energy center and the decentralized buffer storage is provided by the AVAT heating center control system SE²MASTER. These as well as the AVAT substation controller SE²BASE in the 13 apartment blocks are connected to the energy supplier's central heat grid control system SE²OPERATOR. This integrated system solution ensures highly efficient plant operation.
It relies on “energy contracting", a service where all users - tenants or owners - benefit from a utilization concept that can guarantee sustainable, locally generated energy at a stable price. This ultimately resulted in a highly efficient supply structure.
Further advantages for residents in the smart district concept in Heilbronn:
- Contribution to the green energy transition (environmentally friendly CHPs in connection with the use of renewable energies)
- no need for maintenance and servicing
- no ongoing maintenance costs and future investment costs
- less space required for building services
- high supply reliability and no downtimes
- favorable electricity prices (contribution to grid relief through decentralized generation)
- more stable heating costs
Award
The AGFW Energy Efficiency Association and the "Energie & Management" trade magazine gave their joint Contracting Award to ZEAG Energie AG in April 2018 because its supply concept combines the highest building standards with intelligent media supply. The award winning concept also includes other "network-related" products and services. For example, the Heilbronn-based energy supplier is providing the entire district with fiber optic cabling that allows residents and businesses to enjoy fast Internet, telephony and IP-TV, i.e., television over the Internet.
More information can be found on the ZEAG Energie AG (German only) website.
