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Smart Grid on the Lower Rhine
Wachtendonk, Germany
More intelligence for the Wachtendonk
power network
Although there may still be a long road ahead, Germany
has already begun its transition to a new energy mix.
More and more households are changing from consumers
to “prosumers” in that they not only continue to use conventionally generated electricity, but return energy generated from renewable sources to the grid. Nevertheless,
the power grids can’t meet these new requirements without modification. The fluctuating power feeds can produce voltage fluctuations and overload the distribution
networks.
Intelligent secondary substations from Siemens pave the way
for the transition to a new energy mix in Wachtendonk.
“Wachtendonk is a very small community with a large number of energy
suppliers – primarily photovoltaic stations. Unfortunately, these suppliers
also produce very strong voltage fluctuations.”
The 8,000 inhabitants of the North Rhine-Westphalian
town of Wachtendonk get 80 percent of their electricity
from renewable energy sources, making this the perfect
community in which to research and test the requirements
to be met by the power grid of the future. That’s why SWK
Stadtwerke Krefeld AG – the network operator responsible
for the region – and Siemens decided to transform Wachtendonk’s power network into a smart grid. Knowledge
gained in this pilot region will not only benefit the citizens
of Wachtendonk, who must endure a fluctuating quality
of supply, but will also help to advance the transition of
the energy mix as a whole – because only smart grids can
ensure a sustainable, trouble-free bidirectional flow of energy for the future.
Carsten Liedtke, Chairman of the Board
SWK Stadtwerke Krefeld AG
Answers for infrastructure & cities.
Voltage range limitation with the FitFormer
regulated distribution transformer
8DJH intelligent medium-voltage switchgear
Challenges for SWK Stadtwerke Krefeld AG
Benefits for SWK Stadtwerke Krefeld AG
Wachtendonk gets around 80 percent of its electricity
from renewable energy sources – primarily private photovoltaic systems. In an aging power network designed to
meet rural requirements, the effects of such decentralized
power feeds are clear, above all because the voltage fluctuations caused by the fluctuating power feed in the lowvoltage network can’t be systematically recorded. “Here
we need sensors in the network to monitor grid quality
and, if necessary, to take preventive action,” says Dr. Frank
Burau, managing director of SWK NETZE GmbH.
The customized measurement and control components
from Siemens supply the Wachtendonk grid with futureproof intelligence to meet all current and future demands.
Highly critical network statuses can already be detected in
advance by means of smart sensor technology, thus guaranteeing safe, reliable operation.
The modernization of Wachtendonk’s power network must
result in a more stable supply, not least in order to reliably
limit the voltage range as per DIN EN 50160.
The main goal of the two-year project is to achieve transparency as a way to obtain information on the behavior of
the distribution network, and to establish a solid informational and technological basis for future grid expansions.
Our solution
Karlheinz Kronen, CEO of Energy Automation at Siemens
AG, summarizes the project as follows: “Basically, the purpose is to test whether the components we install in this
intelligent network are interacting correctly.” Together,
­Siemens and SWK are transforming the Wachtendonk
power grid into a smart grid, thus creating a perfectly dimensioned automation solution that ensures both comprehensive transparency and financial feasibility for
customers.
One substantial benefit for our customer is the cost-effectiveness of the Siemens solution, which allows him to
avoid a costly network expansion and even increase the
network capacity by 35 percent. The available real-time
data also permits SWK to perform extremely detailed analyses, the results of which can be used to precisely determine future action and investment needs.
As a model project, Wachtendonk is very important. Here,
renewable energies are intelligently integrated into the
network and the overall supply is stabilized to a significant
degree, thus clearing the way for a comprehensive carbonneutral power feed through decentralized energy sources.
Even Carsten Liedtke is impressed with the success of the
project: “Together with Siemens, we’re proud to be playing
an active role in shaping Germany’s transition to a new
energy mix and making the power supply system fit for
the future. […] As far as we’re concerned, Germany is
ready for the new energy mix.”
Concrete measures:
Installation of intelligent secondary substations for
collecting and summarizing data, which can then be
forwarded to the network control center in Krefeld;
Installation of “eyes” in households and distribution stations with the aid of smart sensors and decentralized
metering units that take snapshots of the grid status in
the otherwise “blind” low-voltage system for purposes
of analysis;
Addition of adjustable transformers that can immediately
respond to every fluctuation using real-time data from
the low-voltage network;
Modernization of existing secondary substations so that
they will be capable of accommodating future smart
grid components;
Installation of five intelligent secondary substations
with adjustable local grid transformers.
Siemens has created a perfectly dimensioned automation
and communication solution for Wachtendonk that ensures
comprehensive network intelligence in line with the project
requirements and guarantees affordability for customers.
Published by and copyright © 2013
Siemens AG
Infrastructure & Cities Sector
Smart Grid Division
Energy Automation
Humboldtstr. 59
90459 Nuremberg, Germany
For more information,
please contact our
Customer Support Center
Phone:+49 180/524 70 00
Fax: +49 180/524 24 71
(Charges depending on provider)
E-Mail: [email protected]
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