English - MTU Onsite Energy

Energy
Six gensets supplied by MTU Onsite Energy can start up within a few seconds and generate control energy as well as emergency and peak-demand power.
tertiary or short-term operating reserve energy.
That has to be available within 15 minutes of
being called upon. However, with the new MTU
Onsite Energy gensets, ÜWAG will be also be
able to supply the substantially more lucrative
secondary reserve power. To do so, a provider
has to be capable of supplying 100% of the
registered capacity within 5 minutes. Generating
and delivering electricity that quickly is a major
challenge because not only do the generators
have to start up from standstill, they also have to
synchronize their frequency, voltage and phases
with the combined grid system within a matter of
seconds. “Our modules can only do that because
they are highly sophisticated and perfectly
integrated systems made up of engine, generator
and engine controller,” explained Dietmar
Witzigmann, who was in charge of the project at
MTU Onsite Energy.
Backup supply for emergencies
That ability to supply energy within a few seconds
also benefits the local population. Because ÜWAG
not only provides peak-demand and control power
for the big power grids, it also supplies electricity
to the city of Fulda. If the national grid suffered
a failure, the generators at ÜWAG would make
sure all the lights do not go out. In that case,
a “blackout startup” genset that requires no
external electric pumps or auxiliary equipment to
fire up automatically starts up and supplies the
energy for the other five gensets to be started.
Together, they can supply 24.8MW of electricity
to power the street lights, traffic lights, hospitals,
care homes, refuge hostels and community
buildings. “Fulda is one of the few towns in
Germany that can do this,” recounted Frank
Weinmann confidently. So far, such an emergency
has not happened, but the energy expert is
certain that the Germany can expect to see more
power bottlenecks in the future.
Challenging conversion
Project Leader Sven Kunkel was in charge of
converting and updating the power plant. It
was a considerable challenge for the electrical
engineer because diesel engines had not been
his specialist area before then. “I know all about
power grids. But electricity generators were not
part of my world before,” he smiled. There is little
evidence of that now. Full of enthusiasm, he told
of the many challenges he faced. It started even
before the conversion because the power plant
was actually too small for his plans. He wanted
to be able to generate nearly 25MW of electrical
power – as cleanly, economically and reliably
as possible. “I did consider whether we should
extend the plant, but that would have involved
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