Like a heart, Wien Energie’s pumping stations keep water circulating in the network of arteries of Vienna’s district heating system. At temperatures of up to 150 °C (302 °F), the water distributes heat throughout the city to keep households and businesses warm.
With the Simmering 2 pumping station (PSI2), Vienna utility Wien Energie took its latest plant into operation. This modern installation plays a key role in ensuring the efficient, reliable supply of heat through the district heating network of Austria’s capital. An addition to the existing infrastructure, it ensures that the heat from the surrounding generation plants is efficiently channeled to Vienna’s households and businesses.
Fact box
Primary network vs. secondary network
The primary network distributes the circulation water heated in the generation plants from the generation sites to the district heating transfer stations in the city’s various districts. In the transfer stations, the heat is transferred from the primary network to secondary networks, which take the heat to the consumers. With a total length of over 1300 kilometers, Vienna’s district heating network is one of the longest in Europe.
Contacts mentioned in the article:
Markus Fuchs, Product manager and Key Account Manager at KLINGER Gebetsroither
‘Pumping Station Simmering 2’ Boosts District Heating
The new pumping station is located on the site of the Simmering power plant, Vienna’s largest district heating generator. “We were faced with the challenge of expanding the capacity of the existing pumping station, which was built in the 1980s to cover the ever increasing demand, while also improving the system’s reliability,” explains Bernhard Adam, Group Manager for Mechanical and Process Engineering at Wien Energie and Project Manager for the new pumping station.
KLINGER Solutions for a Reliable Supply
The pumping station was engineered to pump up to 7500 cubic meters of water per hour through Vienna’s district heating network. With two pumps currently installed, it can be expanded by a further two pumps if required. In this full expansion stage, the peak delivery rate is achieved with three pumps, with the fourth providing redundancy. “This ensures that our network can continue to supply Vienna with heat in the event of maintenance work or unexpected outages,” says Bernhard.
Ensuring Safe Flow
He highlights the choice of installed valves and gaskets, which are designed for pressures of up to 28.5 bar and temperatures of up to 180 °C (356 °F). “We use combined butterfly/check valves from Zwick, KLINGER TopChem 2000 gaskets and Ballostar KHA and KHI ball valves as well as KVN piston valves from KLINGER Fluid Control, which already have a proven track record in district heating systems,” says Markus Fuchs, Key Account Manager and Product Manager for valves at KLINGER Gebetsroither. These valves ensure the system’s safe, reliable operation by reliably shutting off and isolating pipe sections.As well as being a safety feature, they allow sections of pipework to be isolated for maintenance tasks.
KLINGER components at a glance
- Ballostar KHA and KHI ball valves from KLINGER Fluid Control up to DN800
- Zwick butterfly gate valves with AUMA gearboxes and Schiebel electric actuators up to DN500
- KVN piston valves up to DN80 and MABI manometer cocks from KLINGER Fluid Control
Efficient and Future-Proof
With its PSI2, Wien Energie is also making a valuable contribution to sustainability: The efficient distribution of heat optimizes energy consumption, which in turn reduces CO2 emissions. “Through regular maintenance and optimization measures, we ensure that the system is efficient as well as reliable. The quality of the components used plays an important role here. Our collaboration with KLINGER Gebetsroither has proven extremely valuable – both in terms of technical support and product quality,” says Bernhard.
Redundancy Secures Uptime
The new district heating pumping station will ensure a reliable heat supply to even the most remote districts of Vienna. For Bernhard and his team, the construction project with its duration of almost three years represents an important step: “Our focus is on maximizing the availability and reliability of energy generation and supply throughout Vienna.”
Fact box
Did you know…
… that a retrofit Ballostar KHI DN800 ball valve was reinstalled after extensive servicing?
… that Wien Energie already supplies 460,000 households with heat through its district heating network?
… that the use of district heating saves around 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year?
… that district heating is to be produced from 100 percent renewable energy by 2040?
