These include a hydroelectric power plant in the wastewater treatment plant outlet, photovoltaic solar panels, two combined heat and power plants using the sewage gas, electricity storage in batteries, sewage gas storage, heat storage and the coupling of the various storage units for the continuous provision of energy.
In addition, the wastewater treatment plant operates in a grid-serving manner. This means that some assets at the wastewater treatment plant can be controlled via the Optimax energy management system. In the event of an oversupply of electricity, for example, the battery storage system is charged and vice versa the battery storage can be discharged during low production. The solution can calculate the optimum usage of the storages based on load and production forecasts.
The pilot project is said to realise an energy saving of 100 percent of the previous electricity consumption required from the grid.
The integration of the wastewater treatment plant into the grid-serving operation is an essential part of the project. For this reason, the project received funding of €3.9 million from the German government as part of its Environmental Innovation Program.