Hillerød El, Vand og Varme was provided with expert knowledge by FORCE Technology in connection with the implementation of their new peak load heating installation. The installation has been in operation from December 2005 to April 2006 and has already brought savings of DKK 2.2m and reduced CO2 emissions by approx. 2,200 tonnes.
The conversion to biomass fired distance heating plants is in strong focus, especially due to last year's increases in oil and gas prices. Hillerød El, Vand og Varme has followed the trend closely and in 2004 decided to change over to cheap and environment friendly heat production.
Successful implementation of the new heating installation
The new peak load heating installation was set into operation in November 2005 as scheduled. The subinstallations of the system, including storage, transport system for wood pellets and the automation system, were commissioned during an 8-week test period to solve any problems with the system and operations.
“The installation has been in almost continuous operation from December 2005 to April 2006, and during this period approx. 10,000 MWh wood pellet based heating was produced to the distance heating supply grid. We have achieved savings in operations of approx. 2.2m and a reduction in CO2 emissions of approx. 2,200 tonnes. So we have been extremely satisfied with FORCE Technology’s work,” says Kaj Jensen, operations manager of Hillerød El, Vand og Varme.
Kaj Jensen continues: “At the hand over tests in February 2006 we found that the guaranteed values for both efficiency and air pollution were maintained at a sufficient margin. Apart from solving an increasingly serious capacity problem in peak load production, the establishment of the installation has resulted in a considerably improved differential pressure in the south-western part of Hillerød’s supply grid and has thus improved the supply to current and future customers in the expansion areas in Vestbyen".
Lack of heat capacity
The heating supply in Hillerød is met by approx. 90% power station heating and the remaining 10% is supplied by natural gas fired peak load and reserve load boilers.
The approval of district heating in Hillerød has been growing rapidly during recent years and in 2004 the capacity of the peak load installations was too low. At the same time the piping capacity in the south-western part of the supply grid was insufficient.
Environment friendly and economical fuel
Hillerød El, Vand og Varme therefore contacted FORCE Technology in order to launch a project to set up the fifth peak load installation in the south-western part of the town, which could both deliver the insufficient peak capacity and increase the pump capacity.
Carsten Monrad, project manager of FORCE Technology explains the challenge: “When choosing fuel for the peak load hub, the customer emphasised that it had to be environmental friendly and economic in price. After thorough analyses we agreed with the customer that the hub had to be reinforced by a wood pellet fired boiler unit of 4.5 MW and a natural gas fired boiler unit of 5 MW".
Cross-professional competencies for a well thought-out solution
During the project phase, FORCE Technology formed a cross-professional team of specialists from the department of Operations and Installation advice and Sustainability and Management. Their overall competencies included building development consultancy in connection with biomass fired boiler hubs, hydraulic analyses of the distant heating grid and environmental approvals of heating production installations.
Apart from the above experts, FORCE Technology’s department for Emission reduction contributed to the hand over tests of the boiler system by carrying out measurements of boiler effect rates and air pollution (emission).
